Sonic and the Sword 2: Apocalyptic Future
by Jortalus
Summary: Sonic, Shadow, and the others arrive in Station Square, but something went wrong, and they are now in a world where Robotnik rules. Finally complete! Shade Origin Added, Last Chapter, if interested. (Fixed the spelling error in the title after 9 years.)
1. Introduction

Well, here it is! the not too long awaited sequal to Sonic and the Sword!   
  
Disclaimer: I don't own this in any way, am not making any money with it, and don't want to be sued.  
  
NOTE: it won't have to much else to do with it, but I will have a character from Megaman -Axl- as a main hero along with the others, and a side story type thing involving Megaman characters, but not too much.  
  
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When we left off, Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Link, and Vescreth had defeated Ganondorf, and were headed to Sonic's time to stop Eggman.  
  
TIME DIMENSION:  
  
Sonic, Shadow, Tails, Vescreth, and Link were in a bluish, black, tube-like place. There were no sounds, and they were seeming to move very slowly. They were travelling forward in time, in order to stop Eggman (or Robotnik as some people know). Suddenly, catching everyone by surprise, a voice echoed. "I don't think so," the voice said, and suddenly, Vescreth lost control of the speed, and they accelerated faster, and were suddenly launched out of the tube, into an unfamiliar environment.  
  
STATION SQUARE:  
  
Everyone landed on the ground at a high speed. None of them moved for a few seconds. Tails was the first to get up. He looked around slowly, and stopped imediately. The entire city was in ruins, garbage strewn about, and several robots, probably guards, in different places. "Guys, I don't think you will like this," Tails said, still refusing to beleive how destroyed the entire city looked.  
  
Link, Shadow, Sonic, and Vescreth got up, and all but Link froze in their place. "The future looks bleak," Link said.  
  
"What happened?" Sonic asked Vescreth.  
  
"Something must have accelerated my rate of time travel. We may very well be over a hundred years further in time then when we should be. This is a problem, as I am trying to go back in time right now. I am being blocked," Vescreth explained. "Of course, whenever we are I am sure this Eggman is no longer living," He finished.  
  
"Well, we have to find a way to stop whoever did this anyway," Sonic said. "But I don't understand who else could have done this beside Eggman. We need to find out who did it, how, and then we need to stop him and go back in time to stop Eggman," Sonic said.  
  
"I agree, let's get moving," Shadow said. They all began to carefully walk, and a robot guard, a large semicircle with two knife-like hands stopped them.   
  
"Halt. Curfew was three minutes ago, why are you not in your quarters?" The robot asked.  
  
"Well, we were just passing through, and thought about destroying you," Link stepped forward, and drew the Master Sword. He gave a quick slash which should have cut the robot in two, but it got deflected by the robot's armor.  
  
Sonic leapt forward with a homing attack, connecting perfectly, blowing the robot back a few feet. The robot retaliated by launching it's right hand at Sonic, attached to a chain. Sonic dove to the side, and the chain whizzed by, smashing into the remnants of a wall. The robot then retracted the hand and launched the other one, charged with elecricity. This one was headed for Tails. Before the knife reached him, a metal blade blocked it. Link held the Master Sword in place, and was electrified to the point of almost losing consciousness. Link dropped the sword, and fell to his knees. Vescreth went forth and kicked the robot. The robot simply grabbed Vescreth's foot and threw him across the street into a building. Sonic, Shadow, and Tails all jumped at it at once. The robot generated a small electric feild all around it, and then grew it out to blow all three assailants backward a good twenty feet.  
  
"We lost already. whatever that thing is, we won't find out," Tails said to himself. The robot was rolling slowly forward on it's tank-like treads to finish them off, when suddenly a shot rang out and connected with the robot. Then, there were suddenly many shots at once and the robot was covered with impact areas. There was then a blue beam that passed straight through the robot, destroying it.   
  
"It's best not to tangle with those, they are the worst bots around," a young voice out of view said. Everyone looked slowly over to the source of the shots and the voice. What they saw was a kid, clad with Black armor with red stripes and a blue orb on the chest peice, He wore a helmet that allowed his Brown hair to show in the front and back. "I'm Axl, you must be new around here, huh?" Axl said, helping them up. "Dr. Ivo Robotnik runs the entire world, and you violated the curfew. That is a punishment of death. You're lucky I got here or you would have been finished. Those guys are meant for executions, so they are just about indestructible," Axl finished, holstering a sleek white gun. "Follow me,"  
  
Everyone went along with Axl, who was walking through a long dark alleyway. Sonic looked around, and imediately recognised this place as the casino area. "Down here," Axl said, walking down a previously covered staircase. As they got to the bottom, the surroundings were lit as a small room came into view, a computer in the middle, and four people in front of it. They all turned as Axl and the others got to the bottom of the staircase. "Axl, you're back, good," said a young woman with short Red hair and a black tank top and jeans, "We were starting to worry, you were gone longer than usual,"  
  
"I saw these five being attacked by an executioner, and thought I would help," Axl responded. The other two figures were A man with blonde hair and a white shirt with black jeans and shoes, and the other was a woman with long black hair and a black sweatshirt and sweatpants.  
  
"Okay, but next time report the attack, that way we don't have to worry," The red haired woman said.  
  
"Alright Jackie, I'll remember next time," Axl said. "Gina, John, fill them in on what happened, they somehow just arrived,"  
  
"Well, we were told that about one hundred years ago, a man by the name of Robotnik emerged to take over the world, but was stopped completely by 'Sonic the Hedgehog', but, ten years later, Sonic disappeared and Robotnik seized control of the United States, and then gained control of the rest of the world with his 'Death Egg three', and has continued his rule since 2003. It is now 2150, but he is still alive, and very much healthy," Gina started.  
  
"Since 2003, a man named doctor light worked to stop some of Robotnik's associate, Doctor Wily's, creations, since that time, many things, based on his inventions, have been created to stop Robotnik. Of course, we had many powerful hunters against them, but the last of the 'Reploids' is Axl, and we are the resistance to defeat Robotnik. Welcome to the team, Sonic," John finished.  
  
"Resistance? and how did you know my name?" Sonic asked.  
  
"Everone knows you, and whenever there is tyranny, there is a resistance," Gina responded.  
  
"Well what happened to the reploids other than Axl?" Link asked.  
  
"We were to take back our base from Eggman, but..."  
  
"What?" Shadow asked.  
  
"Well, I had better explain the whole thing to you," Axl said, taking a seat. "It all began when we started toward Robotnik's personal stronghold...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Next chapter will be the side story of how the remaining reploids were defeated. Well, hope you like it, and review! See ya! 


	2. The Fall of the Hunters

Well, to my first reviewer, your question will be answered later, but rest assured I found a way to put him in!  
  
Disclaimer: Nothing is mine, except Vescreth, and the three resistance fighters beside Axl. Of course Axl, Sonic, Shadow, Link, etc. aren't mine.  
  
NOTE: Axl's point of view until I say otherwise, this is the story of how the others were lost. Eggman has already seized the world, and they are trying to take it back.  
  
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5 MILES FROM ROBOTNIK'S HEADQUARTERS:  
  
We were going through the forest, headed for the headquarters. It was very dark, and the sky was orange with pollution, the base was a large black dome with hundreds of defensive weapons.There were only five of us left from the surprise attack on our base. Everyone but me, Zero, X, Alia, and Signas were destroyed. We rode in a stealth class jeep, it made no sound, and had a feature that blended us with the surroundings. "Okay, you are to go in and capture or kill Robotnik. Remember, if you can't win, try to defeat as many of his forces as you can. failure to do so is not an option. If necessary, you will fight until you die." Alia said. Our mission was to be a stealthy one, but it all went horribly wrong. As soon as Robotnik's base was in sight, the defenses activated.  
  
imediately, an automatic machine gun fired in our direction. The spray of bullets crossed our path. The jeep lost a tire, and then flipped on it's side. Zero, X, and I jumped out, and as Zero turned to save Alia and Signas, the jeep ignited in an inferno. Two casualties already, and we weren't even at the front lines. Zero and X led the way. I drew my gun, as Zero pulled out his saber, and X retracted his hand to open the cannon. We headed for the defenses as fast as we could. The guns opened fire relentlessly, we barely escaped the deadly flurry of bullets.  
  
Then, thirteen semi circle robots, we called them executioners, wheeled onto our path. Zero leapt into action, and with incredible speed and only three swings of the saber, he destroyed seven of them. X charged his cannon and he and I began firing, denting some of the executioner's armor, but barely. The remaining executioners launched their arms at Zero, and pulled his saber away by the handle. X and I were firing wildly to slow the executioners advance on Zero, but we barely helped. And as we did so, Zero tugged on a white pole at his side, and drew the Halberd shaped, blue tipped, D-Glaive. He swung the Glaive in a swift motion and destroyed two executioners.   
  
  
  
I fired at the knives on the other's hands, knocking them all off. The executioners were then blown away by a charged shot from X. Zero ran forward to retrieve his saber. "We haven't begun to fight, let's move it!" Zero ordered. X and I didn't hesitate before opening fire once again, aiming all around at guns that were firing at us. Explosions from the wall mounted grenade launchers were surrounding us completely, and we just barely reached the door of the base. X blew the door with a charged shot, and as soon as we got in, a swift hand threw X into a wall. There was then a grenade thrown into the hole he made, and it exploded.  
  
"X!!!" I shouted. He was gone. Zero, obviously driven by complete rage, leapt forward, and with incredible speed and grace took the hand, grenade launcher, and left foot off of the cat like machine with his saber. It shrieked, and I drew my dual machine guns and began firing at the robot. There were dozens of flashes of impact before the cat exploded in a swirl of fire. We went down the long hallway. "Despite the difficulty, it doesn't seem like the base would be this easy to penetrate," I said. Zero nodded.  
  
  
  
"either way, stay on guard, if X was defeated, we will have some bad problems," Zero said. I nodded, and I holstered my weapons and then lifted my ray gun out of it's holster.   
  
  
  
"Right, let's go," I agreed. We ran down the long, empty hallway. Robots of all sorts were leaping at us, and it took all we had to stay alive, not to mention destroy the attackers. When the bots were gone, we ran again down the hallway. It opened into a room, and the sudden bright light was a surprise, as the hallway had been dark. We walked in, and saw him, Robotnik, sitting on a large, gold plated chair.   
  
  
  
"I knew you would be here, so I lowered my defenses. I wanted to test this," Robotnik said.   
  
  
  
"You LOWERED your defenses?!" Zero shouted, surprised. Both of our energy levels were too low to even teleport out, much too low to fight. "Axl, we can't beat him like this, we have to give up," Zero said.  
  
"We can't," I said back. "Too many lives are dependant on our success,"  
  
  
  
"Well, I told you I wanted to test this, didn't I?" Robotnik interrupted. He pressed a button, and the wall behind him opened up. A monstrous mechanical spider came out, and imediately turned it's back to us. It brought it's legs behind itself, and connected them around the web shooter. "I will finish you with the death beam!" Robotnik declared, and the spider's connected legs began to gather energy and glow.  
  
Suddenly the room was shaking violently, and the spider's cannon was extending. The yellow blast began to extend out. "Axl, you have to stop him!" Zero said, grabbing my wrist. "i'll give you the remainder of my power so you can escape," He finished. I suddenly felt stronger. I had no time to protest, as he pressed a button on my arm, and I teleported. I never saw him again.  
  
NORMAL POV:  
  
"I don't know if Zero was defeated or not, but there is no evidence of him being dead or alive. He just... disappeared," Axl said. "Oh, before I forget, there is something that needs to be done," He said. "Follow me," Axl walked past the computer moniter. There was a door next to it. "An old friend of yours knew you would come back, Sonic," Axl said, opening the door. Inside, was a bluish tube with ice along the edges of the glass window. Inside, Knuckles was frozen. "He requested to be woken when you returned," Axl said.  
  
"Now we have an ally that can be trusted," Sonic said. Shadow and Tails nodded agreement. Axl opened the door, and Knuckles fell out.  
  
"The scientists of the time Flash-froze him, so he will be out for a while, and when he wakes up, Gina, Jackie, John and I can fill you in on our plan to defeat Robotnik," Axl said. "Now we wait for a little while...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Well, review and I'll update! don't review, and I won't!!! Oh well, if you review you don't have to worry about that... See ya later! 


	3. The Plan

Well, hello, and Hitokiri Annikai, no you can't! I will never let you borrow it!!!  
  
Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me, except Vescreth amd the other resistance members that aren't copyrighted.  
  
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RESISTANCE HEADQUARTERS:  
  
Knuckles lay cold on the ground, slowly regaining his red color. "We have a plan that was to be put into motion when we got enough helpers with our cause," Jackie said. "I'll fill all of you in when he wakes up," She said, looking over to Knuckles. While Sonic, Shadow, Link, and Vescreth looked around at the plain grey room, lit up by a single hanging lightbulb, Tails walked over to a closed door next to the one that held Knuckles. He reached for the handle, turned it, then pushed the door open.  
  
What Tails saw astonished him. It was a large room with 10 machines that looked like bicycles, only they didn't have wheels. Axl came up behind him. "It's all that was left at hunter base after the attack. Gina, John, Jackie and I brought them back, and we also have something else that will aid us in our attack later," Axl said. He walked into the room. Tails followed, and looked around at the bikes. Axl opened a small door behind them. In it was a large body suit, with a large gun and a rocket launcher on it's jet backpack.  
  
"Wow," Tails said. "That looks like it could even the odds against Eggman," Tails said. He walked over to it. It was yellow in color. "I used to have something like this, but it wasn't equipped as heavily as yours," Tails said, placing his hand on the leg of the machine, as that was all he could reach due to it's height. Link, Sonic, Shadow, Vescreth, Jackie, John and Gina came into the room.   
  
"Axl, come on," Gina said. "Robotnik is giving his daily speech,"   
  
Axl nodded, and led Tails and the others out of the room, and toward the moniter. Knuckles' eyes began to slip open, and he slowly lifted himself. He looked around, and the first thing he saw, was Robotnik on the screen. He was talking about how much more work the captured citizens had to do. "Sonic! you're back!" Knuckles shouted and ran over to them.   
  
"Hey Knuckles! we have a situation, and we need your help. I lead this resist-" Sonic was interrupted by Shadow elbowing him in the stomach.  
  
  
  
"What he means, is that this is the future, we're back, and Robotnik rules the earth. The resistance asked us to team with them to stop him. By the way, this is Link, Vescreth, Axl, Jackie, John, and Gina," Shadow said, pointing to each person he named. Knuckles looked stunned.  
  
"How long was I frozen!?" He demanded. Axl walked over to him.  
  
"It's the year 2150, and we have no idea how Robotnik is still alive. He looks the same as the old files show, but he is over one hundred fifty years old," Axl said. "We need your help," Axl said. Jackie called out and gathered everyone up.  
  
  
  
"Robotnik has a large stronghold on every continent on Earth. Seven in all," Jackie said. "We need to cripple the forces around each one, and destroy the compounds. After we do this, Robotnik's hold over the people will slowly diminish. After this happens, we can recruit any and all people willing to fight, and take the earth back from Robotnik," Jackie said. John stepped forward.  
  
  
  
"All of his bases are more heavily guarded than fort knox and all of the capital cities on Earth combined. All of those who need them will use ride chasers to approach the holds. The large mech will not be used unless it is neccessary," John said. Gina stepped up.   
  
"I will stay behind and watch your progress, and we will be able to communicate with these," Gina said, tossing them each a small earpiece. "These will act as sensors, allowing me to give you all step by step instructions. I have calculated all of the blueprints of the base, and have loaded them onto this computer. I will study them, and tell you which part is the least heavily guarded. It would be best if you take my assigned route," She finished. Axl stepped forward next.  
  
"All but Gina will make an attempt on each base, but if any of you would like to help her out, feel free," Axl said.  
  
"I'll probably be more help back here, I'm not really the fighting type," Tails said. "So I will stay back and do some work that is needed," He finished. Gina nodded.  
  
"Okay, is everybody set?" Gina asked. Everyone agreed one way or anopther, with a nod, or 'yeah'. "Good, then you leave tomorrow...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Okay, so it may have been boring, but it was not meant to be long or exciting. Next chapter will be though... See ya! 


	4. The Approach

Well, you asked for it, you get it!   
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Axl, Link, Sonic, Tails, Shadow, etc. I do own the resistance fighters and Vescreth, though.  
  
NOTE: Knuckles' point of view would have been good, but I wasn't thinking about that.  
  
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UNDERGROUND RESISTANCE BASE:  
  
Axl was at the computer, waiting for the others to wake up. He was typing in a short password, and hit enter. A screen with blueprints of the ride chasers they would use was brought up. 'I'll use this to teach anyone how to use it,' Axl thought. Just then, Jackie walked in from the hanger filled with ride chasers.   
  
"Are you a teacher now?" She said.  
  
"Well, we can't just send them in without knowing how to use these things. After all, we need all of them to be able," Axl said. "Robotnik's defenses have sensors that could easily pick off a slower moving target. Without ride chasers, half of us would be killed on the spot,"  
  
After a few minutes of waiting, the others all got up gradually. When they were all awake, Axl began to give Link a lesson on how to ride the ride chasers. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and Vescreth didn't need one, so it would be Link, John, Axl, and Jackie on ride chasers, Tails and Gina stationed at the base to provide defensive information, and all the others on foot. "First we will take out the smallest fortress, located in this very area. That is why we are here in the first place. The fortress is just outside the border of the city. You will depart in ten minutes," Gina said. All of the others nodded.  
  
Link, John, Jackie and Axl each pulled a ride chaser to the surface. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and Vescreth followed them. "Are we ready?" Jackie asked them. They all agreed. "Good, now let's stop Robotnik and his forces once and for all!" She yelled. The ride chasers zoomed forward, and Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Vescreth began running with them.  
  
"Good luck," Gina said, Tails standing by her. "Okay, they're gonna need our help, let's get to it," She said. Tails nodded, and they both put on their communicaters and sat down by the large computer.  
  
OUTSKIRTS OF STATION SQUARE:  
  
All of the defenses of the base were activated as soon as the group reached a path lined with thick trees, sending eight robots, also on ride chasers, directly at them. "Here we go!" John said, whipping out a double barrelled shotgun. He opened the back and loaded it, as Jackie pulled out a black handled, silver handgun, and Axl pulled one of his machine guns out. Link got out his mirror sheild. The runners all broke over to the side of the path, and through the surrounding forest. They lured four of the robots off the path to follow them.   
  
Jackie and John imediately began to shoot at the robots behind them. Axl sped up and swerved off to the side, taking one more with him, Link followed, taking another. Jackie fired two shots, each connecting with the head of a pursuing robot. John quickly spun and shot, hitting the same robot in the arm. It's hand was knocked off of the steering handles, causing it to swerve off into a tree, the whole thing exploded in a monstrous wall of fire. The other robot fired some shots from the front mounted cannon.  
  
The shots slammed forcefully into the back of John's chaser, causing him to lose balance and fall of. Jackie caught him by the arm before he hit the ground. Jackie pulled John onto the back of her chaser. "Take the wheel!" Jackie said. John nodded, and jumped to the front, as Jackie scooted back and turned around, taking several shots at the pursuing robot. She got lucky, as the robot was not paying attention. It slammed into a tree in front of it, exploding. John and Jackie celebrated, until something came up behind them...  
  
(The following events all happen at the same time)  
  
Meanwhile, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles and Vescreth seperated, each being followed by a seperate robot. Sonic ran as fast as he could, and barely stayed away from the blue orbs of energy being launched from the cannon of the enemy chaser. Sonic quickly turned, and began spinning in place. The robot passed right through him, and was seperated by his spinning. It went forward, slid apart, and exploded. Sonic started to run again.  
  
Shadow was running along side of his pursuer, and was leaping up to avoid the robot when he swerved to the side. Shadow jumped onto the back of the ride chaser, and kicked the boosters off before the robot could react. The chaser slowed down, and the robot jumped off. It had a jetpack that popped out from it's back, and it flew into the air. It moved quickly forward and knocked Shadow down with a swoop. Shadow retaliated quickly with a kick to the robot's jetpack. The robot spun out of control, and exploded in midair.  
  
Knuckles was gliding quickly away from his pursuer, and made a quick U-turn. He glided right at the robot. It veered to the side, barely avoiding Knuckles. Knuckles, however, caught on to the back of the chaser. He pulled himself up, and punched the robot in the back of the head. The head flew off, and Knuckles pushed the robot off, and then jumped back. The ride chaser exploded upon making contact with a rock.  
  
Vescreth ran quickly, swerving in and out of the path of trees, trying to get the robot to crash. The robot matched every manuever, however, and then brought out six rockets on the side of it's chaser. It launched the missiles, and Vescreth did a back flip, allowing them to pass under him. The missiles turned back on Vescreth, following his movement in the air. Vescreth drew his sword from the sheith on his side, and swiped at the missiles. He cut one in half, causing the warhead end to fall on the robot. It was destroyed. Vescreth held his sword in front of him, and the missiles all collided with it. Vescreth was blown back, sword in hand, but then got up and continued running.  
  
Link and Axl were going as fast as the ride chasers would take them. Link had set up his sheild on the back of his chaser to stop any blasts. The other ride chasers opened up the missile launchers, and fired. "Look out!" Axl shouted, and swerved to the side. Link drew the master sword and slashed behind him at the 12 missiles headed for him. They all split perfectly in half. Axl was speechless, as the missiles fell, harmless, to the ground. Axl quickly turned and held the trigger of his automatic machine gun, unleashing a deafening repeated boom. The bullets shattered the armor off of an enemy ride chaser. Axl then holstered the weapon, and pulled out his large grenade launcher. He launched one and destroyed the ride chaser on impact.  
  
The other chaser shot Axl's next grenade out of the air. The robot then pulled out a laser weapon and fired at the back of Link's chaser. Link and Axl smirked, as the laser was bounced back by the mirror sheild and straight through the enemy who fired it, destroying it.  
  
(End simultanious events)  
  
John and Jackie were being pursued by a large mechanical bumble bee. It flew forward after them. Jackie turned to fire several shots, but the bee dodged them all, and then did a mid air spin. Jackie and John switched places and John loaded his shotgun with explosive shells. He fired at the ground behind him. The explosion caught the bee inside, but the bee rose in the air and escaped. Jackie turned to fire, but was out of ammunition in her clip. She tried to reload, but the bee was already too close. She and John braced for impact, but at the last second a blur passed in front of the bee, and it fell to the ground in three pieces.  
  
"What was that?" Jackie asked. John shook his head.  
  
"I don't know," John said, "But whatever it was, I thank it," He finished, as they zoomed along toward the fortress...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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No comment!!!!!! review please!!!!!!! 


	5. The Infiltration

Hello, I feel as if I haven't updated in a long time...  
  
Disclaimer: No, I refuse to claim any copyrighted characters... but the resistance and Vescreth are mine!!! you can't have them!!! Unless you want to...  
  
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OUTSIDE STRONGHOLD 1:  
  
Jackie, John, Link, Vescreth, and Axl arrived by the front door, and were imediately shot at. Jackie, John and Axl returned fire into the small window that the robots were shooting from. "They have actual defenses here, because they can't get automated weapons for a fortress this small!" Axl explained, firing two shots from his handgun. "Not enough space for the power generator," He finished. Link pulled out his bow and an ice arrow, and fired into the window. It froze the whole thing shut, preventing any other robots from firing. "Good job," Axl congratulated.  
  
FOREST:  
  
Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles got lost on the way. A voice crackled in Sonic's communicater. "Head toward the tallest tree in your view, and keep in that direction," Gina said, via radio. "After that, you should be at the back of the fortress, and able to make a sneaky entrance,"  
  
"Okay, and what about the others?" Shadow said, as his and Knuckles' communicaters were recieving the message.  
  
"They are at the front gate. The defenses are not automated, and have been taken care of. They will enter through the hallway and serve as a distraction for you, who will disable all of the robots in the region," Gina responded. Sonic, Shadow, and Knuckles ran in the direction of the tree, and then continued for about a minute, before coming up to the fortress back door.  
  
"Hmm, easy," Sonic said, pushing the unlocked iron door open, and walking in.  
  
MAIN HALLWAY OF FORTRESS 1:  
  
The group abandonned their ride chasers at the entrance, and Axl blew the door with a grenade. Vescreth and Link took one way, while John, Jackie and Axl went the other. Vescreth and Link had their blades drawn. The hallways were lit bright, and were a plain white. They both walked along slowly, ready for a surprise attack. It came, and two robots that were about five feet tall fell through an air vent in the cieling. Their arms retracted, and they were replaced by swords.  
  
Axl, John, and Jackie had drawn their weapons. Axl used his ray gun. John loaded his shotgun with acid shells. Jackie reloaded her gun from the previous battle. 'I do wonder what that blur was...' Jackie thought. She had no time to think further, though, as three of the same robots fell through the vent above them. When they retracted their arms, miniguns replaced them. "Look out!" John shouted, as the barrels of the deadly weapons began to spin quickly...  
  
Link and Vescreth swung at a seperate opposing robot, but they were both blocked. The robots each swung back. Link jumped backward, but Vescreth was cut across his arm. Blood stained the once clean blade of the robot, and Vescreth clutched his arm. Link leapt forward and took a viscious swing at the robot with the stained blade. The Master Sword sliced through the armor like butter, and half of the robot fell harmlessly to the ground, followed by the other half, followed by Link, who quickly turned and leapt toward the other. The second robot leapt forward at the same time. They both took a swing in midair at each other, and landed on opposite ends of the hall way facing the walls.  
  
John and Jackie dove to the ground as the bullets sprayed mercilessly out of the six miniguns. Nothing could survive a second in the path of those terrible destructive weapons. Axl put his gun forward and created a large stone shield. It was filled with holes instantly, and the robots stopped firing. Axl propelled the shield forward, and bowled over all three robots. John got up and fired the acidic bullets from his shotgun. One of the robots' armor and weapons melted away instantly, and the other two were caught in the pool of acid. One escaped with both weapons and all of it's armor, though, and quickly stood up and began firing before any of the heroes could move.  
  
Link and the opposing robot faced opposite walls. A large cut appeared on the robot's chest, and it fell over. Link also fell over, as the robot knicked his leg something terrible. Vescreth walked over to Link, and helped him up. Link recieved his help and got up. "Well, that was fun," Link said. Vescreth smiled, as the two walked on quickly. Though they were both hurt, niether was going to give up.  
  
The bullets sprayed violently out of the robot's barrel. Nothing in it's path survived. Fortunately, the moronic robot fired in the opposite direction of Axl, John, and Jackie, and did nothing but destroy reinforcements. "Inferior craftsmanship, to say the least," Jackie said, firing a single bullet into the back of the robot's head. It fell down and exploded. All three went on again.  
  
BASEMENT OF F1:  
  
Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow had descended a staircase for about six minutes, before reaching an underground lab. Sonic walked forward. Their were computers and large operating tables all about, and the air was stale. The room was moist and the floor was a light grey. The lighting was rather poor, and you could only see about three feet in front of your face. "Okay. You want to find the main transmitter in the center of the room, over," Tails said over the radio.  
  
"Alright then, where might this transmitter be? over," Sonic replied.  
  
"In...the center of the room...over" Tails responded.  
  
"Sonic, he told us already, stop saying over, and look out for that fist," Shadow said, as a large robot appeared and punched Sonic in the face.  
  
  
  
"But I don't want to swim in the pool in my underpants, Grandma! The neighbor girl will see me," Sonic said, before falling down flat on his back. Shadow and Knuckles slapped their foreheads, and ran forward at the twenty foot robot. Shadow stopped in front of it, and Knuckles jumped on Shadow's shoulders. Knuckles jumped again, and landed in the robot's large mouth. Shadow jumped backward to avoid the robot's fist, which broke a large hole in the concrete floor. Knuckles jumped down the robot's metal throat tube. Shadow leapt forward at the robot, and rolled under it's legs. As the robot turned around, it's stomach was torn open, and Knuckles, covered in oil, emerged from it. The robot fell down and shut off.  
  
HALLWAY OF F1:  
  
The hallways met up again, and the five fighters met up at the intersection. "Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, have you breached the fortress basement yet?" John asked into his communicater.  
  
A reply came quickly. "We sure have, and we have located the radio transmitter. Time to head out. We'll take it from here," Shadow told them. An explosion was heard, and the five headed to the exit. They got their, boarded the ride chasers, and zoomed (or ran) off to the resistance base.  
  
BASEMENT:  
  
Sonic woke up and ran forward to the body of the large robot. "Ha! your dead!" Sonic taunted. The robot started vibrating, and exploded, as Shadow and Knuckles destroyed the transmitter. Sonic was covered in oil and ash, and Shadow and Knuckles carried him out by his arms. The fortress shut down, and they began to run away, toward the resistance head quarters, in town...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Well, the first attack was a success. Next chapter pretty quick if I get reviews. See ya! 


	6. The Old Scientist Trick!

Well, I've been out for a long time, but I'm back!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own what isn't mine...  
  
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RESISTANCE BASE:  
  
As Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles etc. walked in from the dark city alley that the base was hidden in, Gina turned to face them. "You all did well, but that was his lowest class of stronghold. Next time we hit one, it will be a lot more heavily guarded," Gina said, then turned to the computer and began typing furiously. An image appeared onscreen, displaying a short man in a white coat. "I got a transmission about five minutes ago from this gentleman. Apparently, his latest expirement, a transmission device capable of knocking out any robots in it's radious when activated, has been stolen. He asked us for help," Gina finished.  
  
"Don't you think we're a tad busy at the moment?" Axl said, regarding the next base.  
  
Gina shot him a glance.  
  
"If we recover this device, maybe we can stop Robotnik more easily," Jackie cut in. "After all, we can use any help possible at the moment,"   
  
"I don't know, it seems a little too convenient that this man would contact you imediately after we finished raiding one of Robotnik's strongholds, don't ya think?" Axl asked, eying the image on the large computer moniter suspiciously. "I mean, do we even know this guy's name?"  
  
"Well, he didn't even greet me, or introduce himself, but he did sound like he was really in trouble," Gina said, silently admitting that Axl was right. She turned and took one last look at the man's face, a white mustache and thick, blue tinted glasses made him look like a scientist. 'Almost too much like a scientist,' She noted to herself. 'however, we might as well check it out,' Gina thought. "Well, if you guys won't help, I'll..." She trailed off.  
  
"What is it?" Sonic asked.  
  
"He never even told me where he is," Gina responded.  
  
"Wow, that doesn't sound suspicious at ALL, does it?" Axl added sarcasticly.  
  
"Well, even though someone tried to trick us, we don't even know where we would go to be tricked. Whoever this is, they are a really bad ameteur," Shadow said. The others nodded, and Gina closed the window of the computer, causing the image to disappear into the files. The room began to darken, slowly enough that no one noticed.  
  
"But don't you see? There was no reason to tell you the location, because it is right here!" A voice echoed from all around the room. "I had a digital tracking device attatched to the transmission, and as long as the image was displayed, I was able to trace it here! You are all so foolish!" The voice boomed, with no definite location. All of the people in the room looked around quickly, looking for the source of the voice. The room darkened to blackness, and then suddenly brightened.  
  
Sonic, Tails, Shadow, Link and Vescreth all stared at the figure before them with surprised looks, and looks of anger. All of the others looked at the source of the voice and immediately prepared to attack. A long Black tentacle slapped all five of that group away, and into the wall behind them. Knuckles slowly got up, followed by John and Jackie. Gina was knocked unconsious by the blow. Knuckles ran to join Sonic and the others with him. John and Jackie drew their weapons and aimed precisely at the antagonist's yellow eye...It was Shade...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Sorry to leave you there after such a short chapter, I just wanted to get this up to signify that my computer is working again !!! I hadn't updated anything for over a month because my computer stopped allowing me to visit Fanfiction.net, and also stopped me from going to most other sites. I'm so happy it's working again :) expect for more frequent updates than usual for about two weeks... See ya! 


	7. Shade's Attack

Well, here's yet another possibly worthless chapter toward the end. Every time I update it, It's like putting another nail in it's coffin... Well, with that said, onward!  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything previously copyrighted by any form of media.  
  
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RESISTANCE BASE:  
  
As John and Jackie loaded their weapons, following the black ball's movement toward Sonic, Shadow, Link, Tails, and Vescreth, Axl unholstered his raygun and took a quick shot at Shade. Shade didn't even give him a glance, but whipped him with a long extension from the side of his body. The beam from the gun simply redirected itself to the floor. Axl was knocked back into the wall again. Link and Vescreth drew their swords, and both charged at once. Shade's eye opened wide. Suddenly, a large, seemingly electrified, black cage fell over them, trapping them.  
  
"I have grown significantly in power since you last saw me. Now, none of you are a match for me," Shade said, and then continued his advance toward Sonic, Tails and Shadow. "I have waited to crush all three of you for foiling my attempt long ago, but moments like this should be savored as long as possible," Shade said. John and Jackie began firing wildly, reloading whenever necessary. By the time they finished, there was a large half-circle of bullets on the floor. Shade was uneffected.   
  
"This looks bad," Knuckles said to John and Jackie, who simply nodded. Shade once again opened his eye wide, but this time, two black arrows shot from his side toward John and Jackie, when the arrows hit them both in the stomach, the arrows exploded, sending the two targets flying into the wall. Now, six of the ten fighters were incapacitated. "What can we do?" Knuckles asked Sonic, running over to him.  
  
"I don't know," Sonic's reply was grave. They didn't seem to have much of a chance to survive. Then, a yellow tipped arrow flew from the dropped cage, hitting Shade directly in the eye. Shade was sent back about a foot and a half, but then blinked the arrow out. Link dropped the bow. It really was hopeless. Then, Sonic pulled out a chaos emerald. "Chaos FLame!" He shouted, a fireball blasted from the emerald, and exploded on Shade. The fire dissapeared, and Shade generated a black fireball of the same size, and shot it at Sonic.  
  
Sonic was quick, but barely avoided the lightning fast fireball. Nobody had noticed Knuckles' disappearance. That is, until Shade was grabbed from behind and thrown at the cieling with a loud crash. Knuckles leapt up and punched Shade through the cieling, out into the alley that the base was under. Shade caught himself in the air and laughed. He laughed a laugh so horrible, and so evil, that it sent chills down everyone's spine. Shade then closed his eye and stopped laughing. "Well, I can see that someone thinks they are strong," He started. "I will leave you to your planning. Besides, that foolish man will stop you anyway, with the power I granted him," With that, Shade teleported away.  
  
"Well, now we know that something bad is going to happen soon," Tails said. "He said he gave someone power...could he mean Eggman?"   
  
"Maybe, but with that said, we need to be more cautious next time we go to a fortress, They are expecting us now," Shadow said.   
  
"Well, we need to check for injuries," Link said, leaving the spot that the cage once occupied. It had disappeared with Shade. the others agreed and within an hour everyone was awake again. "Shade had the element of surprise on his side. Next time we face him, he won't be so lucky," Link said, lightly clenching his teeth. All of the others nodded.  
  
"So, uh, Gina? What's the plan for the next base?" Knuckles asked.  
  
"Well, this one is in a place you wouldn't expect...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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So how was that? Next chapter up soon, I promise (no he doesn't)! Well, see ya then (whenever)!~ 


	8. The New Plan

Well, forgive me for the extra long wait...school scheduling is not on my side. I just haven't found the time what with all the blasted homework! Anyway, my writing has gotten s l o w e r, so don't expect frequent updates for a while, at least until Spring...  
  
Disclaimer: No........not my characters, except ones that aren't in Zelda or Sonic games. I'm thinkin' about stopping the whole, annoying, disclaimer thing...  
  
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RESISTANCE HQ:  
  
"This next base is in a place you wouldn't expect," Gina said.   
  
"Well, where would that be? I'm ready for anything," Knuckles said readily, as if he wanted to tear stuff up.   
  
"We're gonna need a plane..." Gina continued. Knuckles calmed down a bit, knowing where it's headed. " We may need a few planes, actually, the base is a 'flying fortress' class air freighter. It is in constant rotation around the planet, and will be just East of us in about two hours. The planes, helecopters, whatever we can get, will have to be well equipped, as this freighter is meant to be a defensive last stand," Gina explained.  
  
"Not to sound negetive, but where the heck are we going to find jets and helecopters in this completely destroyed city?" Sonic said.   
  
"Well, we already have that part figured out. There is an airport that was a house for a military base a few years ago. The jets in it are sort of behind the times, but they'll serve their purpose," Axl said. "We had two years to plan this out. Last time an attack penetrated Robotnik's main fortress, he retreated to his freighter, and the attackers never stood a chance, so we want to get them by surprise while the defenses are on low alert," Gina explained finally.  
  
Jackie stepped up to the computer monitor. "A few of us may need to stay behind, they know where our base is, and will possibly try to attack us here if we attack them there," Jackie said. "Not to mention...even though they don't expect us to attack that base, they probably expect an attack soon," She finished.  
  
"Well, sitting in a little concrete room isn't helping our chances much. We need those fighters," Sonic said.   
  
"Only I know how to fly a plane out of all of us Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Link, Vescreth. Maybe you should take a quick lesson, " Tails said. "Maybe..." He trailed off in thought.  
  
"Well, let's go," Link said.   
  
"I'm gonna go to the Mystic Ruins, maybe the Tornado 2 is still there," Tails said.   
  
"Well, I don't think you'd want to do that," John said to Tails. "That area is completely flatenned as the result of a nuclear attack about six years ago. Robotnik has the arsenal of the entire world at his disposal,"  
  
Shadow, Knuckles, and Vescreth stood by the stairs, ready to head out. "I hate long talks, let's go now!" Shadow said, more than a bit irratated by the lengthy speeches by everyone. "I know how to fly a fighter jet, don't ask how...I'm not sure myself...but I do," He finished up. Everyone gave up with the speeches and headed for the stairs. Just before they got out, however, Sonic, Knuckles, Link and Vescreth stayed back.  
  
"We'll protect the base," Knuckles explained. He hated to sit idley by while the rest of them went out to fight, but it had to be done. They couldn't fly a plane anyway.   
  
"Okay, then it's settled. Tails, Shadow, John, Axl, Gina and I will attack, while you all stay behind," Jackie confirmed.   
  
"Good luck," Sonic said to them as they left the safety of Headquarters. "And be careful," He finished quietly after they had left.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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I know you all hate long, drawn out talking chapters, but I do too. i just need to put them in so it's got some story elements to it. If you don't like them, skip them. But I just feel like i should explain what will happen, and what the roster is in attack and defense...Don't kill me!!! (cowers in fear) See ya! 


	9. Rusty Airport and New Foe

God, I finally found the time to write again! Remember, I will no longer do a disclaimer...I found out that only ONE is required per story... Anyway...  
  
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AIRPORT:  
  
All of the people headed to the airport were in a jeep driven by Jackie. Axl was reminded of how two of his partners met their end (See chapter two) , but quickly shook the vision out of his head. The airport gate was shut, and rusted over. Jackie accelerated the Jeep to full speed and rammed through the gate. Rusty metal shards blew out of the fence, and the jeep screeched to a stop. Jackie took the keys out of the slot. "Good thing we had that in the garage, that would have taken a lot longer without it. We barely made the mark. We need to find those jets; and find them quick," Jackie said. John, Jackie, Shadow, Tails, Axl, and Gina got out of the jeep hurriedly.  
  
"John, search the hangars to the right, I'll search the left," Jackie ordered, and then ran off. John went in the opposite direction.  
  
The hanger that Jackie went to was locked by a large, ten pound lock. She pulled her pistol from her hip holster, and took quick aim at the lock. Just before she pulled the trigger to blow the lock off...it fell on it's own. 'Right, I knew that,' Jackie thought to herself, and worked to push the mammoth doors open. When the doors finally budged, it was knocked of it's hinges. The 50 foot dorr toppled backward, and Jackie dove to the side to avoid the crushing impact. Once the rusted metal door hit the ground, the hanger was revealed to be filled with fighter planes and bombers. "Well, despite nearly dying...This turned out to be pretty succesful," Jackie said to herself.  
  
John, on the other hand, wasn't as successful. The hanger he found had nothing but a biplane and some cables in it. John and Jackie got back to the others. "Well, one thing is for sure, this place is old, rusty, and completely dangerous," Jackie said. Gina looked at her wristwatch.  
  
"The Flying-Fortress is right above us! Everyone get a jet with enough fuel for about two hours of flight, we gotta go now!" Gina said to everyone. "There should be some two seaters for the bombers. Jackie, John, we might need a bomber, you two take one," Gina suggested.  
  
"Okay, we'll do that," John turned to Jackie and nodded. Jackie nodded also, and they headed off for the hangar.   
  
"Now, the rest of us will just find your favorite jet, and be sure to check the fuel gauge. It should be about two thirds full, at least, to be prepared for the battle with the cruiser," Gina told Shadow, Tails, and Axl. All four of them ran to the hangar, and saw John and Jackie climbing into a Black stealth bomber. Shadow found a Black F-16 with air to air missiles equipped, but had to get a tire from the side to sit on...as he IS only about 3 feet tall, Tails did the same, only he found a plain Gray F-5. Axl saw a design that just jumped at him. It was a Black jet with two Red stripes along the wings. Gina got in an F-5 identical to tails.  
  
All of the guages were checked, and the fuel was perfect for each aircraft. Then a problem rose; how would they get the planes out of the hanger in time? Tails jumped out of his jet, and flew quickly to the other hangar, carrying his tire with him. He entered the hangar as fast as he could, loaded a bunch of cables on the biplane in the second seat, picked up a cable, and tied it to the back of the biplane. There were five minutes left until it would be too late. Tails jumped into the biplane, pressed the "Start" button, and drove it out of the hangar. The propellers whirled with dated rumbling. Tails tied a bunch of the cables together, and ran into the hangar with the others in it.   
  
Tails tied all of the jets together with the cable, and told them to open their cockpit. Tails got into the biplane and drove at full speed, towing the other planes out of the hangar. "Cut the cables.....now!" Tails commanded, and Jackie shot Her and John's cable, and also shot Shadow's. Gina unholstered a six-shot revolver magnum, and blew her cable off. She also blew Tails' off. "Take off!" Tails yelled excitedly and set the ignition on his jet. The scent of burning jet fuel, tied in with the deafening roar of the engines, was suddenly apparent in the air. fourty-five seconds left... All of the jets took off on the runway within te seconds, and all of them were in the air...  
  
RESISTANCE HQ:  
  
Sonic and Knuckles sat impatiently in front of the computer moniter. Link and Vescreth were practicing against each other with their swords, each atacking and parrying each others blows almost effortlessly. Link had the slight advantage of a shield, but they both fought equally. Suddenly, a knock at the door...the door no one else was supposed to know about. Link and Vescreth sheathed their swords and pressed themselves against the wall by the door. Link signalled to Sonic to open the door. Sonic looked a bit hesitant, but then got out of his metal chair and walked to the door. Knuckles ducked behind the chair Sonic was in, ready to pounce on the visitor.   
  
Sonic opened the door, and barely had time to see the visitor, who quickly kicked him across the room, and then skidded across the floor to a stop by Knuckles. The visitor was a Tall man of about six and a half feet. He wore a Black, open trenchcoat, revealing a Thick Black shirt and black leather jeans. All of his clothes were lined with a few silver chains in upside down arches. His eyes were sky blue, and he had a Silverish-blonde color of hair. His hands were covered by Black gloves. His skin was lightly tanned, and his shoes were short, Black, boots.  
  
"What is this guy?" Knuckles questioned, puzzled by the man's all-Black clothing. "I'll teach him about unexpected guests," Knuckles said, and instantly leapt from his place behind the chair, headed straight for the man's head with a devestating right punch. The tall man lightly backhanded Knuckles out of the air, still hard enough to knock him hard to the wall. Link and Vescreth both drew their swords and took a swing from beside the door. The man held his hands out toward each Link and Vescreth. Their swords were blown out of their hands, and they were somehow pulled into his hands. The man had Link's neck in his left hand, and Vescreth's neck in his right. He gave a short squeeze and threw them both off to the side.  
  
"I am here to ask you about your friend's mission. I don't intend to kill you. Of course, a lack of information may result in an accidental death or two," The man said, smirking dangerously. "Oh, by the way, my name is Jet. Just jet, but you will learn soon to fear me if you get on my bad side," Jet smirked again.  
  
Sonic tried to stand back up. Jet began to slowly walk toward him. 'I'll attain the information I was assigned, even if I have to torture them slowly until they accidentally blurt it out. It won't be the first time I've done it,' Jet thought to himself, quietly laughing at Sonic's attempt to stand up. "I will give you another chance. Maybe you didn't hear me before. I want to know why your friends, your partners, are at the airport stealing aircraft. Maybe they want to have a joy ride? Maybe not? No? Than tell me what they ARE doing," Jet calmly demanded. Then it hit him. The Flying Fortress was just about to pass over that airport. He pulled out a miniature radio from his trenchcoat pocket, and pressed a button.  
  
"Jet to FF, come in FF," Jet said routinely.  
  
"This is Flying Fortress, what is the situation?" A mechanical voice echoed back.  
  
"Well, you're going to be attacked soon, get ready. I beleive they have five aircraft. Initiate Red-level defense mechanisms. Blow them out of the sky," Jet said, and folded the radio back into his pocket. "Were you expecting me to let you go without telling me? I was going to spare you if one of you told me what I wanted to know...now you have to face consequences that were possible to avoid," Jet said, advancing slowly toward Sonic, who was barely conscious on the floor...  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Welp, new badguy, air battle coming, and next chapter will answer any questions you may ask! Ask questions, give me actual feedback, comment on favorite parts, do something other than : Continue please, or update!, or update soon!, I look forward to reviews because I want to see what people liked, and what they didn't. If I'm not asking too much...could my reviewers please have a little more text in the review box? If there's anything I can do to make my story better, I would love to know. Please? I hope that didn't come across as rude...Review (well) please! See you later! 


	10. The Air Attack

Welp...its me.  
  
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SKY (creative, no?):  
  
Shadow and Axl lead the pack in their Black aircraft, with Tails, Gina, John and Jackie following closely, forming a V shape. Before they knew it, a laser cut right between them all, and they all broke formation. Shadow raised altitude until the Flying Fortress was in sight. It was increidble. The size of the main defesnive lasers was devestating. It was truly designed for occasions like this. "How did they know we were coming?" Tails questioned, turning right hard to avoid an incoming missile, followed by three consecutive laser shots.  
  
"Maybe they have a good radar," Shadow put in, but that thought was quickly put aside, as now a dozen fighters. shaped ever-creatively like eggs. "And that is why you don't forget the frying pan!" Shadow said in a corny fashion, bringing a chuckle from the others. Two of the egg-shaped fighters fired blue lasers from their tips directly at Tails. He veered to the left, and then did a U-turn to get behind them. Tails' computers indicated a lock on, and he let a missile fly. The egg ships were prepared for such an occasion, however, and opened backflaps, revealing two gatling guns on the back of each ship.   
  
The eggs fired the bullets directly into Tails' missile, blowing it to bits. Tails fired his own gatling gun at the two craft, only to be met by a rear lock on. An egg behind him launched a quick-manuever dogfight missile...almost impossible to avoid.  
  
Shadow fired hids Gatling guns directly at one egg fighter, and blew shards of it's armor off easily. The egg was eventually stripped of it's armor, and promptly exploded. Shadow U-turned to another craft, but this wasn't shaped like an egg...  
  
RESISTANCE HQ (at the same time the air battle began):  
  
Sonic got up, but barely able to stand on his feet. Jet was advancing on him slowly, but surely. Sonic jumped up, and propelled himself forward in a homing attack. He slammed into Jet's face, knocking him back a good two feet, but not to the ground. "I can see that I just got the jump on you. You are a bit stronger than I thought...at first. But you still aren't a match for me," Jet said, reaching for his glove. He slowly slid it off, but before it came all the way off, Jet's radio buzzed.  
  
Jet slipped his glove back on, pulled a long rifle from his back, loaded a dart, and shot Sonic's arm. "I'll be back," Jet said, and quickly turned to leave. Sonic rubbed his arm after pulling out the dart. His vision was melding together into a single blur of Gray. Just at that moment, an engine roaring was heard just outside the door...  
  
SKY AROUND FORTRESS (More creative, huh?):  
  
Jackie flew her and John's bomber over the laser cannons on the fortress. "Drop them, now!" Jackie called to John, behind her in a bomber position. John confirmed with the pull of a trigger, and dropped a few tube-like bombs on the largest laser. The explosion was unbeleivable, and the result was satisfying. The main laser cannon slowly toppled onto the other cannons, eliminating part of the Fortresses seemingly unlimited defenses.  
  
Axl accelerated to full speed and pulled up. Three egg craft were trailing him. He cut his acceleration at a 90 degree angle and slowly started t fall. The egg ships passed him up, and Axl launched his six air-to-air missiles, two per ship. All of the missiles made contact, knocking out the egg ships engines and most of their armor. Axl descended to a lower altitude and began to accelerate, regaining speed and a regular altitude of 35,000 feet.   
  
The jet Shadow saw in front of him was a sleek, Black model of the X-20 prototype. It was shiny, but impossible to detect with radar. It was equipped with twenty air-to-air dogfight missiles. The X-20 was going to be the ultimate attack fighter, but was too dangerous for the pilot with it's almost unlimited speed potential. The X-20 let loose two dogfight misiles on Shadow's plane, and then accelerated straight for him.  
  
Tails pressed a button on his control panel, releasing a metal orb, meant to seek and destroy certain lockon technologies. The orb went after the dogfight missile, and slammed into the warhead. The missile exploded good, engulfing the two following egg ships in the shrapnel and flames. They both disappeared, never to be seen again. Tails just looked in time to see Shadow's fighter hit by two missiles. It blew apart, but not before a seat shot from the cockpit. Tails flew as fast as his jet was able, reulting in a deafening sonic boom. He slowed just below where Shadow ejected, and caught his seat on the top of his left wing, and then descended straight down to drop him off.  
  
Gina fired a missile at an egg fighter flying into the Fortress for repairs. A dogfight missile was fired back. She fired her gatling gun at the missile, and destroyed it in the air. She caught Shadow's plane exploding in the corner of her eye, and turned hard to pursue the X-20 that shot him down. She saw Tails catch Shadow and launched her own Dogfight missile at the X-20. The X-20 accelerated and left the missile behind. "Man, that new guy is fast! Look out for him, and don't pursue him!" Gina warned over the radio.   
  
John and Jackie heard Gina's transimission clearly, but could not see the "new guy" on the radar. John looked around, and saw a black plane headed for them. "Look out, Jackie! Turn!" John said frantically. Jackie nodded and pulled right on the bomber's controls...but it didn't respond. "My right turn's not working!" Jackie said, and then pushed forward on the stick, lowering the bomber's altitude. "These planes are certainly showing their age," Jackie said. Tails came back, and Shadow came back with a newer plane, with laser cannons instead of machine guns. A brand new plane from the "future".  
  
Shadow headed straight for the X-20 with the new crafts powerful ion engines. He fired an energy torpedo, it moved at almost lightspeed. It smashed into the X-20 and blew one of the engines off. A crackly voice was heard over the radio, possibly meaning Shadow's torpedo knocked out the X-20's radio's limiter. It's broadcast went to everyone. "Dammit! How did he get me? oh, I see...an R-class fighter. Their weakness is the sheilds' inability to withstand the elements," The voice said.  
  
Shadow accelerated to match the now-crippled X-20. The X-20 shut it's remaining engine off and began to drop. Shadow reacted quickly to this movement and did the same. He fired another energy torpedo, but it was neutralized by a laser from the flying fortress' remaining defenses. Shadow fired two more, with the same result. Shadow then fired regular lasers at the X-20, but it began to turn quickly left and right. Tails swooped in right in front of the X-20, and fired his Air-to-Air missile at the cockpit. The pilot ejected, and suddenly Tails' plane froze over. It fell out of the sky, covered with heavy ice.  
  
"Tails! What the hell just happened?" John's voice fuzzed from the radio. The radio crackled a possible response, as Tails' jet plumetted through the clouds and out of sight. The same happened to Shadow, as his craft was suddenly coated with ice. When both of their jets hit the ground, the ice protected them from exploding, as the fuel was frozen. They were shaken up quite a bit, however.   
  
"Go for the engine! we can disable the freighter and cause it to crash in the ocean!" Gina said to the people still in the air. Axl flew to the large engine on the back of the Flying fortress, and let go his full payload of missiles. Jackie flew the bomber just about 45 feet in front of the engine, and John dropped the bombs. With just enough room for the bombs to fall, the bombs blew up right on the engine. It was loosened but still working and propelling the fortress. Gina used her plane to fly just under neath the engine, and fired her last two missiles at the still-attached peice of the engine. The last remaining egg fighters attempted to shoot the missiles down, but weren't fast enough.   
  
The Flying Fortress' engine loosened and dropped to the ocean, and the fortress itself passed below the clouds, straight to the ocean that was just three miles from shore. The Fortress exploded, and none of the robots or personnel survived. "YEAH!!!" Came John's excited, triumphant yell. They all celebrated breifly before heading back to the airport. They all landed on a different runway, and drove their planes back into the hangar.  
  
Shadow and Tails ran up to the hangar to meet them. They congratulated everyone on their success. The Flying fortress actually didn't land in the water. Ironically, it landed on the top of the old, rusted Eggcarrier from long ago. Therefore, now the eggcarrier was destroyed completely, but Robotnik's legacy still lives on in the ocean!  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
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Welp...it's me...review please, see ya later! 


	11. The Newest Plan

Well you are probably wondering who I am and why I'm writing because you haven't seen me in like forever...but I have just been trying and trying so hard to get another chapter up, I hope this isn't crap because I'm so out of 'practice'...Enjoy more or less...  
  
RESISTANCE HQ:  
  
The group had come back from the airport in the same jeep they had used to get there. As they opened up the door they saw all of the others they had left behind in a terrible condition. "Oh my gosh, what happened here?" Tails asked. Knuckles got up off the floor under a hole in the wall in his shape.   
  
"Well, to keep it short...we got our rear ends handed to us by some guy named Jet" Knuckles said, a little dizzy from standing up so suddenly. Sonic was out cold, a tiny hole in his arm, and Link and Vescreth were just starting to stand up.   
  
"When did it happen?" Tails asked. Axl, John, Shadow, Gina and Jackie were looking around, wondering how he had found the door...it was well hidden behind a brick wall next to a stack of trash bags. 'Of course, when you are looking for something hidden, I guess a stack of bags blocking it is a little too obvious' John thought. Sonic woke up almost instantly,and answered Tails' question.  
  
"Well, almost immediately after you left, there was a knock at the door...then all there was, was Oh gosh my face hurts!" Sonic said rubbing his chin. Link and Vescreth finally stood all the way up.  
  
"He had powers like I had never seen before,and he didn't even seem to look our way before slamming us into the wall," Link said, picking up the Master Sword, as Vescreth picked up his sword as well. "So, how did the attack go?" Link asked after putting his sword away.  
  
"Well, we won, that's about all I really can say. There was a weird jet there, the pilot ejected and suddenly my plane and Tails' plane were frozen and went down," Shadow explained.   
  
"So...were there a lot of eggs?" Sonic asked.  
  
"well, the whole opposing fleet was eggs except the guy we didn't recognise," Axl said.  
  
"Yeah, that's how you can tell Eggman was behind it, even though we already knew, it's always funny to see all those eggs everywhere," Tails said with a smile and an exaggerated laugh, attempting to raise all of their spirits. He earned a short, two breathed laugh from most of the others.   
  
"Well we have a new plan, other than destroying the fortresses, we just wait for the oppurtune moment to attack the three most powerful, Including Robotnik's own stronghold," Gina said,"Destroying all of the bases will be much too risky for much too little reward. The last base we attacked only disabled the robots within a three mile radius, not even the robots in the city," She finished.  
  
"I have been meaning to ask you, is life completely ruined sing Eggman came to power, or are people still living around here?" Sonic asked.  
  
"actually, during the day time life is pretty normal if you ignore the robots ready to kill you for illegal action." John said,"Food is rationed out so jobs aren't needed anymore. all people have an equal living quarters. Obviously ours are usually unoccupied because we spend all of our time here,"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I was going to head out tomorrow morning to see about finding some information involving Robotnik's defenses," Jackie said.   
  
"You had better take your gun, if those robots recognise you from the base reports, you may have to fight a few of them." John cautioned her.  
  
"You know I always take my gun.The recognition possibility is the main reason i'm going alone, if they see us all in a group like we usually are, they will recognise us instantly," Jackie reassured him. John still looked a bit worried, but he knew she was right.   
  
"While you are gone, we will try and set up some perimeter monitoring devices to make sure we aren't ever taken by surprise like you guys were before," Axl said. "But the question is, where will we get the supplies to make cameras and stuff?"  
  
"I'll see what I can do when I go out a little after Jackie," John said. "Are you guys okay with being left without us?" he asked.  
  
"We'll manage," Axl said, suspecting they thought the others couldn't handle any threat without them. "I just hope this Jet guy doesn't come here while you are gone, judging by how badly he hurt Link, Vescreth, Sonic and Knuckles, we need all the help we can get,"   
  
After everyone was back to normal and all the plans were organized, everyone went to the individual rooms in the back of the base to sleep. There were only enough rooms for John, Gina, Jackie, Axl, Sonic, and Knuckles to have their own room, because that is all the poeple expected to be there, so everyone else ended up sharing rooms with Knuckles and Sonic. Luckily the rooms were large, but very plain and grey with a single lightbulb on the cieling. All of the rooms were exactly the same, with one bed in the middle.  
  
Everyone settled in and went to sleep. Jackie was a little uncertain if she should be leaving the base so soon after such a large attack on one of Robotnik's main bases, security was bound to be heightened all around the city, but she soon shoook the thought off and went to sleep...  
  
I know what you are thinking..."that was crappy, boring, and pointless" but like I said, I'm not exactly back into my normal writing "power" but I hope you still find time to read my next chapter coming soon ( I hope) See you.  
  



	12. Outside

Well, I am in the mood to write again, but I may not have quite gotten back to my regular (not really good but not REALLY bad) writing...umm...whatever. yeah just enjoy the chapter.  
  
RESISTANCE HQ:  
  
As the sun rose in the sky, the computer moniter, which is always hooked up to a 'sky cam' and acts as a kind of alarm, glared an orange light into all of the rooms of the base. About five minutes later, everyone was up. "Why do we have to wake up at 5:00 in the morning?" Sonic asked stretching.  
  
"It's not that early, is it? what time do you usually wake up?" John asked him, coming out of his room with a fresh outfit, a white t-shirt and a black jacket that was open and a pair of blue jeans. All the others wore the same outfits they did before only cleaned from the day before by some auto cleaning thing in the doorways to the rooms.  
  
"Well, I usually get up at 3:00 in the afternoon ever since I was kicked out of school for being a mutant hedgehog..." Sonic said. There was an awkward silence. "what?" Sonic looked around, puzzled.   
  
"You used to go to school? How come I never knew?" Tails asked.  
  
"Well I was only there for six minutes I just thought I would mention that that is when I started sleeping late," Sonic said. As the others slowly started moving again John and Jackie grabbed their guns from the gun closet.   
  
"Are you sure you two want to go alone? One of us could come and help out," Axl offered.   
  
"No, we will be fine, Gina needs to be able to operate the computer and you stick out in a crowd, as do all of you others, therefore we are the only ones who can go without being noticed or missed here," John said loading his two-barreled shotgun with regular shells.  
  
"I'm going to go first, John you leave about ten minutes after me. We don't want to be recognised and they will mostly check groups of people first. Maybe we can meet up later at the bar down the street," Jackie said holstering her gun at her hip. She walked up to the door and left.  
  
OUTSIDE:  
  
Jackie closed the door behind her and hit the camoflauge button under the knob to hide it as a brick wall. She walked out of the alley and into the open area where the back door to the train station used to be. now it is a rebuilt home for all of the people who could not fit in the hotels. The rooms are about 4 feet wide and just long enough to lay down in.   
  
Jackie walked normally to the old casino, where three executioner bots were standing guard. 'I guess they rose security after we attacked, usually there is only one guard,' Jackie thought. One of the executioner bots spotted her and began to scan her face quietly from the casino doors. Jackie turned around, not even knowing the executioner was scanning her, and barely avoided being recognised. Jackie walked through the hotel and out into the street.   
  
There was a bar right by the road which she entered. Many people were drinking and laughing. there was only one low class robot guard here, the only place without an excecutioner. That is because, as they had figured out, most of the people were spies for Robotnik trying to be rewarded for information regarding the resistance base.  
  
Surprisingly, it seemed as if people still did not know where the base was. 'I guess shade never told Robotnik where our base is, that means that Jet guy isn't working with him,' Jackie assumed.  
  
Even though life seemed normal, people were always watched and if they even spoke of Robotnik in a bad way, they were shot and killed on the spot. The bar was a bad place to be. If you get too drunk you lose most control and say whatever you think...and most people don't like Robotnik. As a matter of fact more people are shot by guards here than anywhere else.  
  
Jackie noticed a man sitting alone, trying to hide his face from everyone. She walked over to his seat. "Is something wrong?" she asked him. He looked up and his face was covered in mud. 'He must have done something wrong, but hiding his face like this will only make the guards more suspiscious,' She thought as the man got up and started walking swiftly out of the bar. Jackie got up and followed him.  
  
"Wait! what did you do?" Jackie called to try and get him to stop. The bar was one of the only buildings on this street still intact, and the man ran into a destroyed building. Jackie followed him and cornered him against a wall. "Why are you running? what did you do?" Jackie asked firmly.  
  
"You aren't going to kill me if I tell you? you aren't working for that bastard rob-" the man said but was cut off by Jackie covering his mouth.  
  
"Don't say something like that! you are gonna be killed if you talk like that!" Jackie warned.  
  
"I snuck into the main office of security, and stole the base plans...but now everyone is after me! You are probably a spy! aren't you?" The man was panicked and was trying to run away.  
  
"Do you still have the schedule?" Jackie asked, not letting the man get past her. "I could use it for...something,"  
  
"No, I don't have it, I threw it into the ocean so it couldn't be traced back to me! You think I would keep it? Ha! you're crazy!" The man was now hysterical. He reached for his pocket and pulled out a small derringer handgun. It holds two shots. "Now leave me alone!" He aimed the gun right between Jackie's eyes. She didn't move. "GO NOW!!" The man pulled the trigger as hard as he could but by the time he got the gun to fire , Jackie had already grabbed his arm and pointed it toward a wall where the bullet stuck.  
  
"Exactly what drove you to do that?" Jackie asked, forcefully pinning the man up against the wall behind him with her arm pushing his neck.  
  
"I thought you were trying to incriminate me! I wanted to make sure you wouldn't kill me first when I didn't make myself the bad guy! I still think you are a spy!" The man still wasn't calm, he was actually crazier than ever. The thin layer of mud on his face still prevented Jackie from noticing his facial features.   
  
"And what exactly is there to spy on?" Jackie asked, pushing the man harder into the wall.   
  
"You could be trying to find out who I am! Everyone wants to kill me!" He still didn't understand that Jackie wasn't going to kill him. He noticed her gun at her hip and started to reach for it. Jackie caught his arm reaching in the corner of her eye and released him. The man fell to the ground.   
  
"If I was really trying to hurt you, I would have used this gun a long time ago. Now please, tell me who you really are," Jackie's voice was lower, calm, and slightly comforting. The man slowly started to calm down.  
  
"I used to be a spy for Robotnik. He found out that I stole his security plans and wanted to give them to the resistance. I panicked, and got rid of them. I was lucky they didn't kill me when they found out I didn't have the plans with me. Oh no," The man stopped.   
  
"What? what is it?" Jackie seemed slightly worried.  
  
"They shot me in the leg, but I never got the bullet out. I think they are using me to spy again. for your sake get out of here. That bullet isn't really a bullet, I just know it. that is why they didn't kill me," The man slackened and stopped moving. "I think it must be something to use me without me knowing, it has to be! go now! if I am right they will come here for you! run away!" The man was really trying to get her to leave.  
  
"Now I don't believe you!" Jackie said suspiciously. "I really didn't notice at first, but even though you say you used to be a spy, you never really gave a reason to want to leave the assured safety of working for him. Also, throwing things into the ocean here is a very bad way to get rid of something. A fisherman could find it, anyone could. Also, there is no reason you wouldn't get a bullet taken out," Jackie put the facts together.   
  
The man looked a bit stunned. "I didn't want to risk a medical record with my name on it, they could find me like that!" The man looked genuinely scared.  
  
"But if they didn't kill you the first time they easily could, why would you worry about it if they saw you again?" Jackie asked him. The man was completely stunned.  
  
"How did you...Well, it doesn't matter. You won't live to enjoy being right," the man rubbed the mud off his face and stood up. Jackie suddenly noticed a mechanicalness to the way he moved. The outer skin of the man burst off. A robot was standing where the man once was, discarded pieces of artificial flesh splattered all over the area. The robot had four arms, each holding nothing, and four legs in an X shape. The robot's face was like a skull with red glowing eyes. One of it's arms retracted into it's body and came back out as an energy whip. It pulled back and swung hard down toward Jackie, she dove out of the way and rocks and concrete flew everywhere due to the crushing force of the blow.   
  
Jackie turned and ran, but the robot stuck a different arm into the ground and extended it. The claw-like hand burst out of the concrete just in front of her. She turned to face the robot, and drew her gun. She aimed right between the red eyes. There was no way to escape, she had to fight it. Alone...  
  
Well, I noticed that when re-reading the chapter it got a bit tedious so I skipped a whole inside the bar section, next chapter will hopefully be up soon, too! I might promise! And can you believe that I spent about thirty minutes looking for a chapter name? I wanted to use one that didn't give away the ending... 


	13. Outside 2 Working Title

Well hi. I was on a trip for about two weeks and haven't had a chance to update. And I just figured out that my underlines don't show up so I'll use hyphens...  
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CITY STREET:  
  
Jackie was facing and aiming at the large robot that had trapped her in a fight she would rather not do alone. The bot cracked it's energy whip in mid-air, and then brought it down and wrapped it around a fallen stop light post. The bot swung the post wildly, narrowly missing Jackie.   
  
Jackie stepped back quickly shooting two bullets at the pole. The bot threw the pole directly at her, and missed her head by centimeters. Jackie was shocked for a second as she realized that she only brought two clips of 15 bullets with her. With two bullets down, she only had 28 left.  
  
'I gotta hold on until John gets here,' She thought, looking at her watch. 'In five minutes he will leave the base. After that who knows how long it will take him to get here. I'm a half a mile away from the bar thanks to this robot luring me away!' She barely had time to think before the robot's extendable arm stretched and attempted to latch to her feet. Jackie fired one shot at the arm, barely veering it off course. "Dammit!" Jackie exclaimed as the energy whip came down just in front of her and blew the concrete from under her feet. She fell flat on her back. The bot raised the whip and brought it down again.  
  
Jackie rolled sideways but was hit by flying pieces of concrete from the blow. One sharp piece about an inch wide and two inches long pierced her left side about an inch deep. Jackie stood up and pulled the piece out, wincing at the stinging feeling. She aimed at where the robot was, but had to jump out of the way of it's whip. 'I barely have time to think before it attacks again,' Jackie thought, taking three shots at the robot's head. All three bullets hit, but were worthless against the robot's heavy armor.   
  
'I gotta find a weak point in it's armor, or I'll never get a good shot in. And if I don't find it soon, I'll be out of ammo,' Jackie thought, firing two shots at the robot's thin torso area. The bullets almost pierced the armor, denting it pretty good. 'If all else fails, I gotta try and break through there,' Jackie thought, firing the last few bullets in the clip at the bot's torso area. A small amount of armor was chipped off in a few places, but it caused no harm to the robot that she could tell. 'If I don't find a weaker point I'll run out of bullets before I do any real damage.   
  
The robot raised both arms and put them both straight out from it's sides. They were both retracted into it's body and came back out as large, wide, very heavy looking arms with triangle, saw like blades a few feet long at the ends. Jackie reloaded her gun as fast as possible and aimed one shot at the robot's right shoulder. Not even a scratch. On top of that, a thick plate of steel was lowered from inside the robot's chest area and surrounded the lower torso that Jackie damaged. "Oh, not good!" Jackie said almost accidentally. She glanced at her watch again. 'Good, John should be leaving in a minute or two. I just hope I last that long,' Jackie did a back handspring to avoid the huge blade the robot swung at her.   
  
To the side, Jackie noticed part of a destroyed building fall, cut clean off. 'Those blades can cut through brick wall, I had better watch out,' Jackie fired three shots at one of the robot's four, spider like legs, almost knocking it down. 'It's legs are weak, gotta remember that, but I cant just shoot at them, it doesn't help me very much, and I only have twelve bullets left...' Jackie did a few evasive hops backward. Objects were falling left and right, slashed clean by the robot's arm blades.   
  
The robot's red eyes grew larger and fired laser-like blasts straight at Jackie. She managed to dodge them, which destroyed concrete in front of her. Her side suddenly began hurting again, and she reached to apply pressure to stop the hurting, but found a metal object clamped onto her wound. She felt tendrils moving in her side. The feeling made her sick and she fell down trying to pull the metal thing off. "Try as you might, but my main mission was to find a new method to disable any wounded person. Those probes are contained in my eyes, and are dispensed in my laser blasts, usually if a blast would hit, it wounds the human and the probe enters and causes much pain. Since you were already bleeding the probe seeked you out from the ground. There is no human strong enough to remove it. You would need your weapon to shoot it off," the large robot explained.   
  
Jackie had dropped her gun to try and pull the small probe off, and the robot knocked it behind itself. 'What am I supposed to do?' Jackie thought for a second. She looked around and saw the building the robot first transformed in. She crawled for it.   
  
"You can hide if you want, eventually my probe will eat it's way through to your vital organs, and kill you slowly, and if you come back out I will kill you myself," The robot's voice was very, very loud and booming through the whole area. Jackie was resting in the building, but could feel the little probe's tendrils going deeper into her body. She started digging through the rocks and dirt in the corner of the building.   
  
'where IS IT!?' Jackie thought, knowing she had very little time before the probe got far enough to completely disable her with pain. She swiped at the dirt in front of her and saw a faint shimmer. 'Yes!' Jackie thought and pulled the metal object out of the dirt. It was the derringer the robot attempted to kill her with in human form. It still had one shot left. She pointed it at the probe and shot it with the barral pressed against it. The probe was completley disabled and Jackie yanked it out. The tendrils were covered in blood, and her side was in a lot of pain, but not as much as before.  
  
Jackie found the shirt the robot was wearing as a human and wrapped it around her waist to cover her side and apply pressure to stop the bleeding and dull the pain. she stood up and walked out of the building. just as she began to walk toward the robot, her gun was thrown to her from over the robot's head. without thinking she caught it and aimed. A loud boom was heard from behind the bot and it was blown forward trailing fire. As it hit the ground John was seen behind it reloading his shotgun with explosive shells.  
  
"John! How did you find me?" Jackie asked in complete surprise.  
  
"Anyone could find this guy with his overly cocky, annoyingly loud voice," John said pointing his shotgun at the robot on the ground. He fired two more explosive shotgun shells at it and blew off it's head.  
  
"True," Jackie agreed. "Did you find anything out? You didn't get here for quite a while, took you a total of twenty minutes after you left the base," She said, taking another glance at her watch.   
  
"nope, not a thing, I was finding some equipment for some more security. you look tired, let's go back to headquarters," John said. Jackie nodded and the two walked away in the direction of the base...  
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Okey dokey, sorry if that whole sequence was too long, I really got carried away with the probes and whatnot, but after re-reading I didn't think it was very long. Just had to give my personal favorite of my original characters some "screen time". Something kind of weird happened when I saved this the first time, and a lot of the words were repeated or deleted...kind of funky, If I didn't fix it all tell me so I can redo it.


	14. The Uneventful filler chapter

okay, for thanksgiving I decided I was bored around midnight and I thought I'd update. It's been a while, but not so unbearably long that I forgot what I'm doing.

RESISTANCE HQ:

The scene is as normal, except John and Jackie are not around. The main computer screen is displaying an image of Jet. The one security camera did get a closeup of his face. He seemed to have many different sized pupils cascading in his eye, with tiny light blue lines between each. "I have seen this type of eye structure before," said Gina, and she got the attention of the others in the room. At that moment, John and Jackie opened the door, Jackie looking exhausted.

"Whoa, something went wrong, huh?" Sonic blurted. "Well, I ran into something a little bigger than I could chew. But thanks to John I made it out pretty much unscathed," Jackie replied, clutching her side. "I could use some rest though," She said, and was off to her room. After she disappeared behind here generic black door, Gina cleared her throat and attention was reverted back to her.

"Anyway, I recognize this pupil pattern, it's signs of a surgery that implants robotic enhancements into the eye, in order to sharpen vision and increase motion detection. Basically, it means he can see bullets and other objects that would normally be moving to fast for normal eyes to see," Gina said. "it also sends messages to the brain at an extreme rate, making things seem to move incredibly slowly, therefore effectively increasing reaction time," She finished.

"So what your saying, is that we don't have any weapons that can touch him? well, that's just great," Axl said. Gina shrugged.

"I just convey the facts, not make them. But there is somehting odd about his face, I can't place it...but something about him is just...wrong," Gina studied the still image on the screen closely. "I'm gonna need a little while to analyze the rest of this data," Gina closed the image and scrutinized some words and information that was too complicated for anyone else there to read and understand.

Activity returned to normal. But, as soon as this happened, there was a knock on the door. "I'm not getting it, this brings back a painful incident," Sonic said and ran to the side. Knuckles looked at him in pity, and walked off to answer the door. Everyone had their weapons ready and aimed at the door. Knuckles opened it and ran really fast back to the others. As expected, Jet was at the door.

At first he just stood there, and the second Axl fired his gun at him, he just moved his head ot the side to avoid it. "I've come to deliver a message. No need to get hostile on me," Jet said, smirking in self-confidence. "My master wanted me to tell you that he is watching you and is impressed by the woman's performance. A lesser fighter would have been anhialated by one of our modified Executioners. Congratulations, he says he is looking forward to when you destroy the lesser man, and prove yourself worthy of his time. And by the way, I want you to know that on my last visit, I had fun," agian the confident smirk, and he was ogne, his slightly overlengthened trenchcoat waving behind him as he simply walked away.

"That was uneventful, and overall a waste of time," Sonic said, high and mighty after not being tranquilized.

"Well, at least he didn't try to kill us this time," Knuckles said.

"Who said he was trying last time he was here? He probably could have easily finished us off. But I think Shade wants to face us again. He doesn't seem to want us dead, because knowing where our hideout is would allow him to do it easily. No, I think he wants a challenge, and if he lets us live long enough he thinks we will become 'worthy of him'," Shadow theorized.

"Talk about a mood killer. I was thinking we were just that good," Vescreth said, half joking, half serious. There was a long, bizarre pause.

"well, we might want to get this security reinforced to prevent more visits from our friend there," John broke the uncomfortable silence. And then gathered up the equipment he left at the door. He set off for the outside. Gina turned back to the computer and continued typing and clicking all over the place.

"I have our next attack planned out, Robotnik has a base on each end of the world, he calls them both by the same name, suggesitng a connection between them. One is at the North pole, the other is South. If we break the link between these two bases, we can cripple his control over the world," Gina said while still typing. Link had been quiet throughout the whole situation. He seemed deep in thought about something, grasping the hilt of the master sword, as if in another world.

Vescreth walked over to him and tapped him on the shoulder. In the blink of an eye Link grabbed Vescreth harshly by the neck and slammed him against the wall with the Master Sword point touching his neck. Link quickly snapped out of it just as his sword drew a trickle of blood. Vescreth was completely shocked, but looked less frantic than he should have. Link sheathed his sword and looked completely apologetic. Though his tone suggested otherwise, "Don't._ DO_. That." Link said between clenched teeth, but in a less kind way than his face suggested. "Sorry, my mind was somewhere else," Link quickly backed off and leaned back against the wall.

"No problem, you know I didn't think you would get so far before you snapped out of it, I was almost scared to death," Vescreth said, holding his hand to the small cut in front of his throat. Something made Link jumpy, and it must have something to do with Jet. But what could he be thinking of, and is it something to do with Gina's thoughts on the way Jet's face looks..."wrong"?

Well, sorry to leave with the typical "stay tuned and find out" ending, but I was trying to think of a goo way to stop typing, I was (in my mind) on a roll. Of course you know I have one semi-boring chapter to lead into the action sequences, so bear with me. I don't like to be tired of typing by the time the good part is supposed ot come along. Well, hopefully that didn't seem awkward, but it is around 1:00 AM on Thanksgiving night, so i'm kind of tired and witless right now. Anyway, I don't need to tell you review, you know by now right?


	15. North South Poles!

Well, I know recently I have been updating horridly slow. I have a lot of school crap going on, and I usually use my computer time on something for school. I have times on weekends where I can typea quick chapter. hopefully over summer my schedule will free up a bit. Recently I picked up Megaman X8, so Axl has a few additions to his arsenal from now on. I like his new weapons for that game. Anyway, onward!

RESISTANCE HQ:

Link was leaning against the wall, thinking and tapping his foot over an unknown problem. Vescreth was still a bit shocked and witless from his near-death experience. Gina called everyone into the center area, abruptly. "as I mentioned before, Robotnik's main control stations are located at seperate poles of the Earth. there may be a satellite connection, or as my theory suggests, a very long tunnel drilling all the way through the center of the Earth and out the other ends. I beleive Robotnik may harness the power of the core to run his expirements and transmitters" Gina stated. "now, as a plan we will need to split into groups. I am going to stay behind for this one because we will need someone to coordinate from HQ. I am going to assume that Axl, John, and Jackie will be part of one group. Divide into whichever groups you wish" Gina returned to typing on the computer for a brief moment.

The groups ended up as one being John, Jackie, Axl, Link, and Knuckles. The other group was made of Sonic, Shadow, Tails, and Vescreth. After a few moments, Gina turned over to them again. "Now, group one is John's group, and group two is Sonic's. Group one will head to the North Pole, group two to the south. This is going to be a very taxing mission, so it won't be started until tomorrow morning. Planning is tonight" Gina informed everyone.

"How does she know so much, that she is the leader of the group? She looks so young..." Shadow asked Jackie in a whisper, as not to disturb the instructions.

"Well, John and I never were to good with computers, and in today's world computers are an important skill for survival. Gina is a bit less skilled in combat but she devoted her life to technology after Robotnik first began threatening world domination. She always wanted to make a difference. Hopefully we can" Jackie responded, still fully attentive to Gina's plans.

"Now, you will be using two people per bike, so this is gonna get crowded. You may want to get some extra rations packed. I have a feeling this is going to involve going the whole way down to the core. As you may gather, that would be a long trip. if the bikes are lost, you will need to go on foot. The actual attack plan is to destroy anything that looks important. Simple and to the point" Gina made a quick speech about teamwork and concluded with a "Goodnight, and good luck tomorrow"

Link could not sleep that night. Despite the comfort of the bed he was provided, his body just wouldn't stay still. Something about Jet bothered him in a big way. Almost as if he knew him already...but that would be impossible. When Link finally found sleep he was treated to a bizzarre dream. Jet was standing in Link's house in Kokiri Forest, holding his hands up about to his chest height. He was looking away from Link. Jet reached to one hand and stripped the glove off of it...it was his left hand. Link saw a fantastic glow of Blueish light, and the whole forest was frozen solid. The dream ended just then, but Link did not wake up.

In the morning, Link awoke, with no immediate memory of the strange dream of the night before. Each group was given two bikes to ride. The garage was left with just one bike and a suit of golden-shaded ride armor. With no words beside the occasional "good morning", the day almost seemed ominously quiet. But Vescreth just didn't let that slide. Cracking off a joke or two every minute or so, the mood was kept a bit lighter than most would be before a major attack with just nine people. Nobody wanted to say anything that might make the outcome different, so the tension was high, and the action was low.

After everyone was placed on the right Hover bike, Gina wished a Good Luck, and they all set off. Little did they know that this battle was going to be one of the most decisive of all the battles ever before it. For one thing they never counted on would happen within the Earth...

NORTH POLE:

As expected, the first group arrived on schedule after the three hour bike journey to the Northern pole of the world. Nobody was really dressed for the weather, and anxiosly searched for the signs of a base. And they definately found it. Executioners. Five of them. Standard models but still very deadly. Link was first to strike. A quick jab with the Master Sword into the first to reach them slightly irritated it's sensors. At that same moment another of them lifted Link by the leg and tossed him aside. Knuckles was next to charge. He leapt with an unheard of ferocity and tore his fist deep into the first Executioner's frontal plate.

There was a confined explosion as the first of the robots was destroyed. Knuckles left a small crater of melted snow in his wake and moved to attack the next of them. these were more aware of his strength and made adjustments to their attack pattern. Knuckles soon met with a mechanical arm to the jaw. Jackie fired off a quick shot to the arm before it could do a follow-up strike. Axl unleashed a new weapon of his, a magnum pistol with a deadly powerful bullet. He fired two shots, each landing on opposite sides of the attacking executioner. This scrambled it's programming and forced it to attack itself. Soon enough, it was a crumpled heap.

Link had gotten up and snuck behind one of the attackers. He whammed it in the back of the head with a blow from the Megaton hammer, sending it straight forward into another. The one attacked was broken, but the collateral one was still powerful. "You need to change your attack pattern or another wave will know you front and back. Start using different techniques" Gina's voice crackled through a radio unit within Axl's helmet.

"Roger that! everyone, fight differently or Gina says the executioners will know our style and beat us if we fight more" Axl relayed to the group. John was blowing away an executioner with his explosive shotgun shells. Just one left. This one was a very unexpected one. It transformed. Not into an improved executioner, but to something seemingly more powerful. Gears and pipes shifting in and out of it's body, it grew...doubled, no tripled in size. Soon it was very familiar to Axl.

'The prototype that Robotnik was working on...the one he beleives defeated Zero...' Axl froze. He knew they weren't a match for it. Or at least, he _thought_ he knew...

SOUTH POLE:

Group two arrived at the south pole around an hour after group one. this is about just the time when the Executioner morphed. Sonic quickly spotted the remains of a base here. It wasn't one of Robotnik's, but an unknown to him name was etched into the side. He could barely make anything out because of scratches on the plaque...but what he saw was: PcRen. Slashes were made by what looked like some sort of energy weapon, like a sword. In fact, these energy marks were made all over the area.

"Hey, Gina...we found something odd. It looks like another lab is here, but it's torn up. It has stairs leading down...should we investigate" Tails called on the radio that he was entrusted with.

"No, leave it for now...Robotnik's base is our number one priority. Continue your search...I will check some maps for records of any known labs or installations in that area...I will tell you what I find as I find it, talk to you soon" Gina said, and the radio was silent. What could have been here? and why is it in shambles...and what could have done it?

Ooooookay...hope that chapter wasn't too boring. I had to set some things up for the next chapter which will have one explosive action sequence after another...trust me, you won't want to miss this one! he he he...if I ever get it up :

Anyone reading this: thanks for sticking with my story over my long periods of absence! Hopefully I will be able to get a quicker update schedule going on, in the near future. If I can do that, hell I may write that DBZ story I have been thinking about since last September...


	16. South and North poles pt 2

Okay, been about two weeks, like I said before I will try and update more often. Anyway, last chapter I noticed none of the lines I made appeared for some reson...it is supposed to be like this: P''''c' R''en, with lines like slash marks...weird, eh? I will use periods to divide the body and my comments from now on just in case.

* * *

NORTH POLE:

Axl stared at the robotic monstrosity he had known as too powerful. He had never really seen what it can do, as Zero forced him to leave just as it started to attack. 'Zero...What happened? how did it get the better of_ you_?' Axl thought. He had no doubt they would lose a figth against this thing, Zero had been the strongest, best hunter in the entire force. Axl was a rookie when he was defeated. Without the power and training Zero had he was like a gnat by comparison. Nonetheless, Jackie fired a few shots at it's head. They were like pebbles for all the good they did. Soon Link was leaping forward with an arrow in the bow, an ice arrow.

'Not the best choice touse at the North pole, but it is all I have at the moment,' Link thought as he fired the arrow straight for one of the machine's eight legs. Again...nothing. This was definately a losing battle. Now, Knuckles figured he would try something new. He ran forward under the thing's legs, and jumped up at it's underbelly. He put a dent about the size of a dime in it. Knuckles fists were throbbing witht he force he used.

"Gina, what can we do? Thisis the thing that beat Zero!" Axl asked, panicked beyond beleif, into the com system.

"Have you tried the legs? The motion sensors on the head?" Gina asked, who had been paying attention to Sonic for the past few minutes.

"Yeah, it's like weare trying to punch a mountain. Analyze it! See if there is anything we can do to it!" Axl was firing his magnum at it's face. Nothing good came as a result. The Robot stood there. It didn't move. Axl thought it was just glitched in the system or something. No, it moved...very quickly. The front two legs morphed into beam sabers, and it virtually teleported to Axl and slashed him straight thorugh the left arm. It fell right off, like butter. Axl fell down.

Link sprinted over to him, trying to help him up. Axl was okay, he just lost the arm, but it could be reattached manually. Link left him to it, and pulled out the crystal of Din's fire. He tried his best to get close enough to use it, but the spider bot slammed it's second arms into his chest, blowing him straight back into John. Jackie ran forward to attack when it was distracted. A good shot into the face and it actually effected it for a fraction of a second.

That second was all Axl needed to fire a grenade into the mouth of the monster. An explosion, and the thing fell for a second. It jumped up off the ground about thirty feet into the air, it landed, legs over Link. Link thrust the MAster Sword into it's belly. It pierced the armor for a brief second before it yanked the sword from Link's hand. With the mock fingers at the tip of it's leg it thrust the sword into Link's stomach. Luckily it missed all internal organs and Link wasn't mortally wouned.

John was the one to fire the final shot. He got the explosive shelles into the pierced underbelly with a slide under it. The beast-machine went down. It was sparking, and twitching with wires and oil leaking out of the underbelly. But no, it was still alive. Link was up by now and used Din's fire and finished it off. The melting, searing metal dripped to the snow and cooled.

SOUTH POLE:

As all of that happened Sonic and the others found the entrance to the south tunnel. It was as Gina suspected and they are connected through the core. The tunnel was at a 90 degree angle, with an elevator leading deep into the Earth. All of the defenses normally here were totally shredded. Peices no more than a centimeter in size were strewn all over the snow feild surrounding the base entrance. "Uh Gina, we got a major weird situation going on over here...all the defenses were...wiped out totally," Tails said, surveying the landscape.

"Well, as far as I am concerned it makes it easier for you. If you meet resistance, then take it out with extreme prejudice. But don't let your guard down for a single second. Continue by using the elevator. My guess is it leads down into the core. I will tell you when after team 1 reaches the checkpoint. For now, try and find what might have done this. Good Luck, Gina out," Gina replied, the sound of constant typing in the background.

"We need to check around for what did this. Let's go, and wait for team 1 to reach their checkpoint.

* * *

Okay, third part will be tonight, just my wrists are hurting. Expect the decisive event to hapopen later in the core. Let's just say it is bad...not to spoil anyhting though. 


	17. Reunion and a huge problem

Well, sorry for breaking this in two, but I needed to take a break for a minute. Well, nothing new to say.

NORTH POLE:

Axl was readjusting his arm into the socket when the SPider robot was destroyed. He couldn't believe anyone was stronger than Zero. But, he had to admit, he thought nobody was stronger than he is, and he was wrong. Something about this fight seems out of place to him, but he can't see what. 'Almost like it was...too easy,' Axl thought. Trying not to linger on it he walked up to the others. "Let's find the entrance, I hear the others already found it on their side," He said aloud to take his mind off it. The others nodded and resumed heading toward the direction the executioners came from. All of a sudden, Knuckles walked straight into what seemes like thin air.

"OOF" Was all Knuckles needed to say before he fell back. The base on this pole was cloaked.

"I wonder why the base on the South Pole wasn't cloaked, Gina said that Tails reported that the base was totally ravaged. DO you think it was attacked..recently? I seem to remember hearing that cloaking devices rebuild and restart after a period of one day," Axl thought aloud.

Gina's crackling response sounded in his head. "Yes, devices for security are equipped with micro repair bots to make sure that secondary attacks are as well defended. Cloaking devices are especially easy to repair...Either Robotnik is on a bidget or it WAS attacked recently. Doesn't seem like the emperor of the world would need to worry about money though. Check the inside, and make sure nothing nasty is waiting inside, Gina out,"

"Roger," Axl replied to a silent radio. "We need to check the inside before we go on through,"

The others agreed and took position outside the invisable door, but it was open and the inside of the structure was revealed. It had a reddish tint to it, and yellow lights adorned the corners of the cielings. A rundown old elevator was right inside. The base was no bigger than a small hotel room, but the elevator led to the true base. "Gina, we are in the base, no hostiles detected. Proceed?" Axl questioned over the radio.

"One second, let me get a report from team two," Gina replied a few seconds later.

SOUTH POLE:

"I saw nothing out there, do you think whatever it was has left?" Vescreth wondered to the others.  
"More likely, it went down the elevator, waiting for us or somethign else dumb enough to go after it," Shadow stated flatly.

"Man you sure know how to make things depressing," Sonic said. Tails' radio was crackling with gina's voice.  
"Report, any sings of the attacker?"

"Negative, Gina, Shadow thinks it may have gone by the elevator. Has team one reached the entrance at the opposite pole yet?" Tails tried his best to sound official.

"Yeah, Tails, they have. They had a bit of an encounter though that left Link a little woozy. I think he is mostly recovered though. Shall I tell them to proceed?" Gina replied, always typing, always searching. Tails wonders what she could be typing so much.

"Okay, we are ready to begin, take the elevator down," Axl said to both Gina and the team with him.

NORTH POLE:

The elevator creaked slowly at first and built up to a near free fall as it went on. Soon enough they were at the core. Surprisingly, the two elevators arrived at almost the exact same time. The occupents stepped out together. NOw there were no seperate teams, just a small resistance against whatever lies beyond these doors. The doors were large, steel. A hole in them signified a break in. It looked hot still, dull orange around the edges of the opening. This definately happened recently.

CORE:

Axl was the first to step through the hole. The base down here was immense, and full of twisting halls. An overhead map revealed a huge power center in the middle of the base. The gourp followed Axl through the halls, reaching the power center. Axl was shocked, to say the least, at what he saw.

Zero stood there, searching for something around. Axl was too shocked to say anything. Zero's eyes met his. Axl froze tighter. "Axl...Why are you here?" Zero's voice was quiet but firm...a strong leader's voice. Axl searched for the right response.

"We came to defeat Robotnik. Why...how..are you here?" Axl almost demanded. "Why didn't you contact me? You could have helped us defeat him..." Axl trailed off. He realised Zero wasn't paying a lot of attention to what hewas saying. He was clsely surveying the area around him. A quick flash and Zero was on the floor, his saber knocked away.

"Who is that? and what is he doing here?" Sonic asked, always a few steps behind things.

"That's...Zero, and I don't know how or why he is here...but it looks like he is in trouble," Axl said, his view fixed on Zero's saber. He reached out for it but the blur-like thing beat him to it and knocked it far away. The blur stopped at about the center of the room. He wore sleek black armor, about the same coloring as Axl's with no Blue orb or red stripes. Basically a Dark Version of Axl, a bit of hair drooping over his left eye. He stood to his full height about the size of Zero.

"Oh, I didn't notice you guys. Would you like to join us?" The dark reploid asked.

Axl drew his pistol and took a quick shot. The bullet he fired was deflected effortlessly by the reploid's black beam saber and returned home to Axl's barrel. The gun made a slight spasm and shattered. "Axl! Everyone! Get out of here! He isn't the type to mess around with! He could have killed all of us already!" Zero was urgent in his tone, realising that the single shot meant the possible death of his past friend and partner. Axl took the advice and turned to run.

He was stopped by Link. "Don't run, stand by him, do what you can to save him. I can tell he means a lot to you. We will be here as well. If he is really that powerful what good will it do to run away anyway. If he is under Robotnik or Shade, we will be facing him soon anyway," Link was staring in the reploid's direction.

"Forgive my rudeness, guys...I am not used to actually seeing people. My name is Raven. i was created just to the East of the South entrance not more than a month ago. A few power hungry madmen tried to take me for themselves. They didn't," Raven said in a bored way. His manner suggested that he enjoyed killing people. Vescreth made the first move just as his speech ended. The Demon Katana burning black, he struck at Raven's left side. It never got close.

The sword was blocked and knocked away in a fraction of a second. A quick turn and a kick and Vescreth was sent straight back to where he came from. He wouldn't accept it, and Vescreth teleported instantly behind Raven and tried again for a blow. A snap movement in his arm and Raven knocked the word away again, but this time stabbed Vescreth in the chest, peircing straight through. He fell gasping.

Axl unleashed a weapon nobody had ever seen him weild. A beam saber of a deep blue color. He rushed with his weapon in a fighting stance,a dn thrust twice quick at Raven's chest. A smart move, as Raven was expecting a wide swipe and misblocked. Axl's first jab hits knicked Raven's chest armor. It did nothing. Raven was quick enough to redirect his saber toward the second strike and send it backward out of Axl's hand. He made a quick movement to knock Axl back. Link was next to try and fight. He fired an ice arrow at Raven's forehead. He hit directly and Raven was frozen solid.

Link wasted no time in rushing to attack. Obviously having the upper hand he swung wide in an attempt to gash Raven's side. The ide around Raven simply defused and fell. Raven was already out and behind Link, another quick strike and Link was down, bleeding from his reopened wound from the battle before. Jackie and John went at once, bullets whizzing through the air. A few were misses entirely but the ones on target were knocked back. A few bullets almost hit them, but for the most part John and Jackie were moving in closer.

Zero came from above with a kick meant for Raven's head, but hit hard on the ground where he once stood. Raven's speed was like a teleport, and he was in between John and Jackie in a flash. He spread his legs and tripped them both at once. They tried to counter with a kick both at once, but Raven had jumped away and left behind nothing but a memory in his place. Sonic and Shadow moved in next. they circled behind Raven and tried to gain enough speed to be his equal. It wasn't enough, and Raven had quickly gained more and more speed. Suddenly he lifted them up, and tossed them aside. Only Knuckles and Tails were left unscathed. Tails sprinted forward, Knuckles close behind. By this time Axl and Vescreth had mostly recovered and recollected themselves and attacked from behind.

Raven moved his arms with such speed, he blocked every attack all at once with the same hand. But he didn't see Zero's saber coming from above. Zero drove the hilt through Raven's shoulder. That fight was changing directions quickly. Raven was overpowered for a brief moment, but soon gained the upper hand. he yanked the saber from his shoulder by the blade itself. Zero tried to hold on, but Raven's crushing grip found it's way to the hilt. Zero's hand was nearly crushed under the force. Raven smirked. He swung Zero around and knocked away all four of the people around him. He released Zero and he whammed into a wall.

John, Jackie, Sonic, Shadow, and Link all went for Raven. Bullets and arrows all over. Sonic and Shadow gathered energy and launched forward for the most powerful blow seen before. A double light speed homing dash. The attack hit Raven full in the face. Nothing but a flash of light and Raven was knocked back a meter. He recovered extremely quickly and had no downtime at all. He retalliated with a swift kick to Sonic and a slash to Shadow. They were out of breath and losing thought as they hit the ground.The bullets and arrows made no difference anymore. Raven was adept at deflecting them harmlessly, and then knocked one bullet into each attacker's chest. They all went down.

"Is this really the best you guys can do? I have been wasting my time, haven't I? Really you would expect the only heroes in the world to be a bit more skilled in there special areas than this...Well, what can I do about it? I guess I just need to finish you off, huh?" Raven was taking sick pleasure in seeing the broken fighters and heroes all around him. Somehow he was created to be more powerful than anyhting previously known. Raven had bested them. But his victory was short lived. Jet had come. Raven looked disappointed, and knew what was about to happen.

"Remember what you came for...Not to kill, but to analyze. You know how they fight. We don't want them dead, remember? God it is like talking to a three year old trying to give you orders. Anyway, it is time for us to go. Let them have the victory today. We want a challenge, and in the state they are in, we can snap our fingers and beat them. Just be patient and you can have more fun then you can imagine later. It could be an actual fair fight if you wait for them to come to us," Jet spoke to Raven as more of a friend than an authority figure. It is obvious that both of these individuals have enourmous strengths, and good fights would come few and far between. They both left through the halls and went to the surface.

Everyone was too releived to say anyhting. It seemed they weren't going to die until they had succeeded in crippling Robotnik's control and the attack was made on his fortress. But, they wouldn't go down without a fight then. Vescreth was first to rise and help John and Jackie. The others were already immune to his healing powers, so he could only help them for now. He was barely able to move anymore. He could not save one of them. He was too dazed to notice who, but someone's heart was burst, a bullet deep within. His healing powers could not work on anyhting so severe. He blacked out realising whoever it was was still barely alive.

Well, man that seemed like a long chapter. I think I made Raven a bit too powerful, but he is like that in another of my stories, and as a matter of fact he was my first character I made. Back when Megaman X7 was still in development. Well, I figured I would end it there. The next chapter is a bit...well, sad. But not teary teary sad because a bit of good news comes with it. Anyway, I do hope to update more often. Soon I hope to finish this story with a proper ending. Review and tell me what you think. I could modify some things if you find them too...exaggerated. well, thank you for reading! I'll update soon, hopefully. You can trust me about as much as you can trust that Geico lizard doing the robot in a freeway full of dead cars and a cat eating chicken...wtf I am soooooo tired. 


	18. Cheesy notsobrilliant cliche death scene...

Dang...man I take too long to update. I mean like forever long. Holy crap it hasn't been more than a month, has it? Well, whatever.

Supercalifragilisticespialidocious! (my new line divider, all my tohers get auto-deleted)

CORE:

Zero and Axl didn't take long to get up after the fight, and Axl saw John and Jackie on the floor. He rushed over, Zero behind, and kneeled beside them. Jackie was hurt bad, Very bad. Her breathing was labored, and the breaths she got were small anyway, seeing as the oxygen down there was all artificially made. Vescreth was laying beside her, his hand grabbing hers. 'He tried to heal her...does that mean he couldn't?' Axl wondered to himself. He couldn't beleive it. After all these battles, not one person had been nearly mortally wounded.

'I guess I just thought of us as untouchable. I am such a fool,' Axl bowed his head. He moved Vescreth's hand gently closer to him. John awakened. He was healed.

Groaning and clutching his previously wounded chest, he looked around. "Where...where did Raven go?" John was frantic. "Am I dead? tell me I'm not dead," He slapped his forehead.  
"No...you aren't dead," Axl said, quietly. "But if we don't get help, and FAST, Jackie will be!" He turned to a quick panic and rushed to get Link. 'he has potions, he can help! if only I can wake him up!' Axl thought as his rush ended with him slapping Link across the face to wake him. A stir and a groan, and Link was conscious again. Zero stood over Jackie, eying the wound to her chest.

'I don't want to tell him, but in this condition, trying to force something down her throat is just going to make her last minutes worse than they already are,' Zero sighed and shook his head. Axl had rushed back with the potion and tried to get Jackie to swallow some. Zero grabbed him by the hand. "No, there is nothing that we can do. Even if we heal the wound, the bullet is still in there, it would just prolong her suffering. If you think you can pull it off, remove the bullet. But really I think we should just let her be," Zero said calmly. He had no bond with her, so he did not have much of a feeling either way whatever happened.

Axl was shocked. How dare Zero stop him from helping her? It isn't fair for him to think he is in charge now, Jackie is dying! John saw Jackie injured badly. He felt the spot on his chest again. 'Does that mean the bullet is still in me? How did I survive and she didn't? it isn't fair...I want to go in her place!' John rolled over to Jackie's side. "I just want you to know...it's all my fault. The bullet was from my fucking gun! If only I had seen how worthless it was, and stopped firing, she wouldn't be hurt!" John broke down.

It is always bad to see a friend and partner go, but Gina hadn't said a thing about it. The whole situation had just been relayed to her through Axl's radio. By this time, everyone had regained senses and was by Jackie's dying body. Vescreth made another attempt to heal Jackie, and he almost succeded...but he ran out of power before he decreased it to a non-fatal wound. Despite this, John took out a knife he had and dug through for the bullet. Jackie unknowingly groaned and squirmed in pain. After a minute of trying, John got the bullet out.

"there is only one way to save her! but it will be a tight squeeze. Noramlly if this had happened it would be no problem. We have the cryogenics. But way down there you may not make it back in time. Give her a potion and hurry back so we can freeze her long enough to recover. Hurry! We don't have time for this, Jackie could die any second now!" Gina suddenly shouted through the radios.

"Vescreth, teleport her to the base! NOW!" John shouted harshly, wondering to himself why he hadn't thought of that. Too little too late though, as Vescreth used all of his power just getting the wound less serious. "She could survive, but only if-" John got cut off by Jackie grunting.

"John...no...don't try too hard to...save me," Jackie said slowly and painfully. She was losing her grip on life. "I don't...want to be...a burden," She coughed a bit.

John lost all sense. "A burden? waht are you talking about...you...you're the only one who I ever knew that could go toe to toe with a Super Executioner..." John bit off these words trying to prove himself she wasn't worthless. Everyone knew it, but he needed to comfort himself.

"no, that...isn't what I meant...like this, anyone trying to...take care of me...wouldn't be able to help you," Jackie's breathing was getting shorter, and harder.

"No! you can NOT DIE! I...can't see you die. I never wanted to see anyone die, especially you Jackie...I loved you. You are the only person who I truly loved in this world. if you die, I have no reason to live," John had to choke back the inevitable stream of tears coming down freely.

"John...I never knew...until now...but I...love...you..." Jackie stopped talking, and moving. Her lungs emptied of her final breath. John lay helpless over her. All the surrounding people were at a loss for words...they never knew just what an impact one death could have on a team who risked their lives every waking moment. Only then they realised, they may not be what it takes to defeat the evil in this world. What if Shade and his minions could beat them just like this? what would happen then?

All of the original resistance were on their knees, each blamed themself somehow. "if only I had been stronger...faster...smarter" all of them wondered how it could have been different. If only Vescreth had moved faster, and thought quicker. He could travel back in...Link got a sudden realization. "Vescreth! can you go back in time? To the moment Jackie was shot? If you can, maybe you can still save her!" Link blinked at the simplicity of this idea.  
Vescreth had forgotten all about his abilities after Shade sped him up in time. At this time, Shade had probably assumed as much. Maybe he wasn't being blocked anymore. Before he knew it, he was back in the past, just as Zero and Axl were thrown aside. Vescreth leaped at the bullet that would end Jackie's life and moved it's trajectory barely enough to save her before his power drained and he was thrust back forward. Jackie still got it worst of them all, but she was alive. Maybe now she could be saved...

Supercalifragilisticespialidocious!

Sorry if the drawn-out death scene that turned utterly pointless seemed crazily corny...but it was. I really had no idea how to handle this. I jumped the gun last chapter and it took me this long to realize how I was going to pull myself out of the killing-off. I have way many plot-holes and boring chapters. Just make sure you forget all about the death scene because it never happened! God I feel so cliche..."I love you!" dead my goodness tell me that wasn't the dumbest thing ever. I needed to write something though. and It was originally planned to kill Jackie off but i decided against it.

Not to spoil anyhting but John and Jackie have an important encounter with a bad guy later that would be ruined if she...ya know...died. I just wanted to test myself to see if I could make any sort of death scene whatsoever. better than postin some totally new one shot story with no plot or background instead. So if you want to say how totally homosexual this chapter was, go ahead, just remember this: it never happened...it never happened...it never happened...


	19. Jackie lives! Oh and Zero tells his stor...

Last chapter never happened...remember? Anyway yeah...it kind of gets totally overlooked.

CORE:

Jackie lay injured on the ground, a bullet just inches from her heart. Vescreth realises only he remembers the events of her death. John was getting the bullet out by using a knife. Link had a potion ready, and all was fixed in a few minutes. John let out a sigh of relief but figured he should keep his feelings for Jackie a secret. After all, wouldn't it be kind of pointless to tell her in the Earth's core in front of everybody? A crackle came from the radios designated to them, and Gina's voice came out. "Okay, you need to take out the power generator so we can cripple the robotic forces temporarily," she reminded.

After a few seconds of looking around, they realised the generator was destroyed long ago. "uhh...Gina? I think this was a really pointless mission...there is no generator here. It must have been a setup," Axl reported. Zero walked away and looked a little deeper into the structure of this place.

"Maybe there is another on the bottom floor, this map says it was added about three years ago. Our best bet is to assume Raven was here for a reason, and check it out," Zero suggested, checking the map again to find the stairs. "We need to go...left, right, and then down the hallway tot he stairs, and we should be right on top of the generator then, if there really is another one," He directed with a few hand motions and followed the path.

After a bit of walking, they reached the stairs and travelled down them. Jackie was silent, having a near-death experience like that. Vescreth figured it was a bad idea to say anything about her actually dying. Best to let her think she wasn't really in danger. The stair case was a long one, and after about ten minutes of bounding down, they reached the sub-level. All was dark, and Shadow whipped a flashlight out of nowhere to look around. The huge generator was actually very bright orange when light was shone onto it. The lava running through it silently had heated it to near-melting degrees.

Axl produced his nasty looking grenade launcher and fired an explosive right onto the center of the generator. It didn't explode so much as corrode into itself from the extra heat and pressure. Lava began spewing from the empty place on the wall, and with urgency everyone made tracks for the stairs. The run seemed longer going up, as the lava leaked and threatened to engulf them. Shadow, Sonic, and Vesreth all lifted the slower moving people and ran as fast as they could for the exit. A few seconds later, at the elevator, there was a viscious shaking of the core, and a few other spots around them spewed lava.

They were just lucky enough the elevator to the north pole was still intact. The weight limit was almost passed up with everyone on at once. Tails had rememdied that by hovering just above the floor of the elevator holding Sonic. Knuckles climbed as long as he could to help keep the weight acceptable. The actual limit may be a bit lower thanks to the heat welling up from below it. they finally reached the surface, and never realized just how fatigued and damaged they were. All but Axl and Zero collapsed onto the floor upon leaving the elevator. They took it upon themselves to use their teleporters to get back to HQ with the others holding on.

RESISTANCE HQ:  
Gina was at the computer tracking the signals from the two teams until they disappeared and suddenly beamed down behind her. She was surprised enough that she got out of her chair for the first time all day. As she rushed to make sure everyone was okay (she had lost contact with them just after the generator was destroyed), Zero and Axl stood up. "Glad to see everyone is okay," Gina said, sighing with releif. "but, how do I know we can trust Zero? He could possibly be a clone or reproduction of the real thing. After all, you said he had no energy left to fight when you last saw him. Right Axl?" Gina, the ever-suspicious computer specialist (well, ever since the Old Scientist incedent) quickly judged.

"Well, I was kind of wondering that myself...but if he wasn't trustworthy he would have killed us by now, after all. And he jus seems to be the same as before. Even if it has been awhile. Wait...Zero...how DID you survive?" Axl asked, suddenly suspicious.  
Zero was quick to reply, but he seemed offended. "Well, it's a bit of a long story, but we need something to do, eh?" Zero offered. "Well...after you left..."

FLASHBACK: (ROBOTNIK'S UBER BASE)

Axl had just used the last of my reserve energy to escape the battle, as per my own tampering with his arm unit. The massive Spider-like thing, which Robotnik simply called a Death Beam, had morphed into a cannon-like robot. Just before Axl had left, I had acted like a total coward. I had to make the situation seem hopeless for myself. That way the Death Beam's now charging extended cannon would be set to low power. In truth, the reserve energy I had given to Axl was barely even from the surface of my leftover power. "the more convincing i am, the easier I can kill you..." I said darkly as I leapt forward to swing my halberd shaped D-Glaive in an arc to split the cannon down the middle. Much to my own surprise, a full powered magnet like feild rose around it and blew me back.

The beam's energy was what caused the reaction with my own weapon. My only chance was to dodge. After the spider bot had noticed my actual energy was filling, it charged much more rapidly. I drew my saber so I could at least defend myself from anyhting it threw at me. The blast was hard and fast, a direct hit would have finished me, but I just barely got away, for it grazed my arm. Even then, it was strong enough to force my saber out of my hand. I reached down for it before the Death Beam could charge again, and leapt forward with all my strength.

I hit as hard as I possibly could with the swing I got in, and it showed. the Death Beam part of the spider was smashed in on itself. The energy properties of my saber didn't actually go through, but i assume my strength and ferocity was enough to dent the barrel closed. Robotnik was obviously furious. He ordered for a 'Super Executioner' to come. I didn;t know what to expect, but by the time I saw it, I had overestimated it. The four armed strikes were just barely too slow and I got rid of it. I dove for Robotnik to finish him, but he was fast for a fat guy.

The button he pressed was why i didn't finish the struggle, then and there. A huge form of a gray Egg-shaped Robotnik face slowly lowered from the sky. It extended a tractor beam of sorts and grasped me to it. I was lifted up into the sky and over the country of the base. I broke free from the hold barely low enough to survive the fall. after I landed in the forest area, I decided it was best to let Robitnik think I had died somehow on the Death Egg's exterior. I stayed in some forests, and at one point i saw a few speeder bikes being chased by a Bee robot of some kind. I couldn't let it go on,so I swooped down as fast as I was able and destroyed it. I just now realized it...that was you guys down there, wasn't it?

RESISTANCE HQ:

"Wow...Zero saved us from the beginning. I remember that blur in the forest! Gina, he's gotta be the one I know. If you don't trust him, I don't stay," Axl firmly asserted.

"Well, his story does seem to be credible enough. So I suppose I trust him, iven no other choice. Sorry to seem like such a bvad person, but after all, we ARE the only ones willing to fight back against Robotnik's legions...Chances are, someone's gonna want to infiltrate us," Gina said, obviously not approving of Zero, but letting it go because no other choice was given.

Okey Dokey...that chapter DID happen, and just to make sure, Zero is good, no traitorizing or nothing...I just had to make it look like Gina isn't too trusting anymore. Anyway, no comment... 


	20. Preface for Final Battle!

Hmm…been ages since I last felt like typing anything. World of Warcraft devours my free time now. When we last left off, Zero appeared out of a plot hole! Dun dun duuuuun! So…anywhoo…began?

Resistance HQ:

"Well, as we have no choice but to trust his intentions…we need to welcome him to the team," Gina announced reluctantly. She typed up a little string of code into the computer, and Zero was registered into the database as "friendly".

"I need to help, if I didn't X would have died in vain…" Zero stated as if it were just a fact.

Axl was a bit confused. "You mean…X actually died? Why? I thought he might have escaped!" He said, apparently too relieved at Zero's return to remember the world is full of hard truths. His expression loosened, he seemed to be in despair…Almost as if it was the first he had heard of X's death.

Zero gave Axl a pity look. "You need to learn, there aren't enough miracles to keep you happy. Most of the things you accept at first stay true… You shouldn't even think it possible otherwise. You'll just set yourself up for disappointment," Zero was blunt. Blunt as a baseball bat. He killed the mood of the would-be victory. Everyone suddenly realized how hopeless this battle was growing to become.

"Why do we always seem to get the depressing ones on our side?" Sonic asked. "Why can't we have someone hopeful? Or even someone who _doesn't _seem to hate life?" Sonic frowned. "All these downers are really starting to bug me…"

Tails made an awkward face. "You know, half of the time they are right,"

"Exactly," Sonic returned. "I just wish they weren't, maybe then I could go back to my old self. Now it seems to dire to have fun," He explained, looking off into space, recalling the insults, the fun, and the not-as-dangerous danger of the past. "I really regret being here. I just want to go back to the way things were."

Link walked over, although he had to bend down a bit, he put a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "You will be able to go home. But first, we have a bit of a situation here to take care of. Remember, Vescreth cannot take us back while Shade is still around. That makes this kind of place a necessity," Link regarded the people around him, nodding. "Maybe…just maybe… we can pull off a surprise attack on Robotnik's headquarters." He suggested. "It would be the last thing he expects!"

Gina interrupted. "You know, that would be a complete mistake! He would be surprised, sure, but not for long! He has constant security…He's grown paranoid in the past few years. But…given the situation…we can't hold out too much longer," Gina was typing…always typing on that computer…It got to the point that if she had ever stopped typing, it would be ominously quiet. Something would be missing. That typing was one of the comforts that may seem worthless, but to these people, it was all the comfort they could get that made this place feel like home.

"Well, I think we _should _attack his HQ soon… We are running out of options…" Jackie put in. "At least then we can show that we aren't afraid of him!" She pounded her hand with her fist. "What do you guys think?"

Various opinions were heard, but, overall, it seemed like a plan they would soon be carrying out… "Well, as you all seem to have a death wish, I will start planning tonight. I hope you guys are sure, because there is no turning back after we get there," Gina concluded. "I will come along, we are gonna need every bit of help we can get if we are seriously going to attack his main stronghold! I suggest we wait about three weeks for some intense training…" Gina trailed off, and stopped typing…

That was supposed to be an ominous little thing at the end there…Don't know if you guys caught it or not…but this story will end rather soon…I would have rather drug it on a bit longer, but with school, and the atrocious 5 month update gap…I want to make it end…and soon…I hate to say it but I got bored sequentially of Sonic and Mega man so it got kind of hard to write this stuff… Soon I am going to start something about my newer interests I intend to keep for a while. I'll update this as soon as possible…maybe even tonight. The climax of the story is next…but it will be MASSIVE. Remember the little climax of the last one? That chapter was about 4000 words…This next one here? Probably more like 10,000…so maybe not tonight, but soon. See ya later……Alligator.


	21. Final BattleClimax Part 1

Final climactic battle of the series! It's gonna be a doozy!

Resistance HQ:

A week had passed. Not a single word could be said without dripping with fear and uneasiness. Most of them simply kept silent. Without Gina's typing, the whole place seemed like it was completely deserted. They had, the day before, talked about taking the Ride Armor in the garage. They reconsidered, after realizing it would do no good against Jet and Raven, and just slow most of them down. Uneasy glances and such was all they afforded each other.

The last week was so grueling with training, but the day before was a rest day so they could be in top condition. Finally, Jackie broke the silence. Her words were just a little bit shaky. "Are we ready?" She shouted, and all activity ceased. After a long pause, they all gave the affirmative. Lucky for them all, the main base was closer than most, and they would only need to run to get there. Vehicles would make them easy targets. As they walked out of the HQ and headed toward the base, nobody dared to say a word to them.

They were, by then, well respected and well feared within the city. Not too long after leaving the city, the sound of robotic gears could be heard nearby. The fortress, it was as close as most of them had ever been. They walked with determination, getting to the front door within minutes. The defenses were down, thanks to the disruption of the Core base. They waltzed on in, and were immediately met by a troop of over 50 Executioner class defense bots.

The poor things never even knew what hit them. With as much slashing, shooting, and kicking was going on, it's a wonder the little bots managed to even beep the alert. Within about 20 seconds of walking in the door, a majority of the stock base defenses were obliterated. But, they knew, it wasn't the mass-produced defense they had to worry about. Somewhere in this base, they were going to have to fight some of the toughest warriors they had ever seen.

All the weapons were held ready and Gina held her revolver shaking. 'Why did I come along? I am not cut out for this…' She thought to herself. She quickly dismissed that thought as they entered a _massive_ room.

"I have a sinking feeling in my gut about this one," Link said suddenly. Sure enough, who was to appear but Jet? He walked through the door on the far side of the room, and it only took him 3 running seconds to be upon them. He stopped so suddenly the wind from behind him almost knocked Sonic, who was in front, back off of his feet.

"This guy is fast…Very fast…" Zero said, without much justification being needed.

"We don't have time to deal with him together. Gina, John, Vescreth! You stay with me, we can handle him!" Jackie shouted, and Jet let out a booming laugh.

"Go ahead, I promised Raven I wouldn't kill all of you before he had a turn," Jet smirked. "This will just make it easier to keep my promise,"

The team, save Gina, Jackie, John, and Vescreth, walked on. It was uneasy being just four against this man. His speed alone was enough to make Sonic, a super fast hedgehog, blink in disbelief.

While in the next room, sure enough, it was Raven who greeted them. The chip in his shoulder had been repaired, and he was in top condition. Axl and Zero were to fight him. Raven just cackled, amused.

The rest of the group, (Link, Knuckles, Shadow, Tails, and Sonic) continued on. They met with who they thought would be the most powerful. Robotnik. His personal guards and fighting vehicles would most certainly give them a run for their money. "How good of all of you to come…I have been expecting you," Robotnik said, in a voice unfamiliar to the group. He seemed tired, old, and broken. A pity they had to take him out.

Back in the first room, the four to fight Jet had their guns and sword trained on him. He held a smirk on his face, as he raised his left hand and slowly peeled the glove off. Beneath it, his hand was solid ice. His right glove was removed, and it was burning. "You have no idea what I can do," he said, as he disappeared in a flash of flame and appeared just behind Vescreth, he grabbed Vescreth's arm and tossed him clear across the room. The three with guns began firing, but Jet made an ice wall all around him. He spread his arms and legs and shattered the wall, large fragments just missing the three. Vescreth had begun charging back, and when he got there brought his sword down.

Jet caught the blade with the ice hand and froze it over, taking Vescreth by surprise. With all the bullets flying Jet could not afford to stay still. He tossed Vescreth high into the air and disappeared in fire again. He reappeared in the center of the three gun users, and swiveled on his hand in a spinning kick. The three were sent back a bit, and he rushed forward and landed a punch with his burning hand to John's face. John was not unprepared, however, and had explosive shells loaded. Ignoring the searing pain, he pulled the trigger and blasted Jet off of him…

Raven was walking steadily toward Axl and Zero, only drawing his solid black saber when he was within five feet of them, and stopped. "Do you honestly hope to beat me? Only two of you?" Raven held his forehead with his free hand. "that is just too good…" He trailed off and made a horizontal slice with his saber, but Axl and Zero both blocked. He followed through with a kick to Zero's chest and an uppercut to Axl's chin. They were both hit at the same time. Raven was agile, that is for sure.

Before they even landed Raven had put away his saber and grabbed hold of both of them by a foot. He spun around in circles and let go, sending the two far away. Zero caught the wall behind him with his foot and pushed off, where as Axl only stood up after landing. Zero used his momentum in a flying kick and connected with Raven's face. Raven stumbled back, and Axl came from behind and tried a vertical downward slice, only to be blocked by Raven's saber. Zero used Raven's distraction to his advantage and thrust a hand forward to grab his neck. Raven was not one easily taken off guard, and he did a backward flip and his foot connected with Zero's face…

Robotnik's movements were slow and sluggish. He pressed a button on his chair that opened a hole in the ceiling that dropped down a large dinosaur-like robot down. It glared it's sharp teeth to the targets. They all, save for link, sped off toward it. Link loaded an ice arrow onto his bow and let it fly when the Dino opened its mouth. It got ice jammed in its jaw and tried to close it. Through that struggle, it broke the joints in its mouth. From there all it took was a punch to the leg from Knuckles to bring it down.

"You're gonna have to do better than that, doc!" Sonic shouted and stuck his tongue out. Robotnik stopped moving, and spoke a command softly to the computer at his chair. Suddenly, the base lifted itself out of the ground. It was the massive Death Egg itself. Shortly after the rumbling of getting out of the ground stopped, Robotnik closed his eyes and stopped moving. Sonic rushed up and glared at him. He waved a hand in his face, poked his stomach and felt his neck.

"He…He's dead!" Sonic shouted back to the others.

"What? How?" Knuckles shouted back and ran up to Sonic.

"Not sure, really," Sonic said. "But I guess that means our job is done,"

"I don't believe it was that easy…" Link said and walked toward them.

Tails and Shadow made there way to them and put puzzled looks on their faces upon seeing Robotnik move again. They all jumped back to the ground level. Robotnik's mouth opened unnaturally wide and Black Smoke seeped out…

John and Jackie were firing wildly at Jet, who continuously put a beating on Vescreth. Gina was nowhere to be seen. Vescreth was getting very banged up, but Jet had his gloves on so he was not excessively harmed. Out of nowhere, Gina dropped down from the ceiling of the room and landed on Jet's back, holding him by the neck. She squeezed with the full strength of her arms, and Jet merely inhaled deeply and grabbed her by the hair. He lifted her from his back with ease and tossed her to the side. "Stay out of this, kid," Jet said. "It would be a shame to kill you,"

Gina stared to the ground. She had no reason to be here, she just got in the way. Why had she insisted on coming with them? She would have been more of a help back at the base. 'Kid' echoed through her mind. She had to agree with his comment. She didn't want to die…

Axl and Zero were trying as hard as they could, constant blows with their sabers and fists, but Raven wouldn't budge an inch in his air-tight defense. Each attack they made resulted in an equal counterattack to both of them at once. Raven was too powerful, it seemed. There had to be another way to get to him. Some way, maybe mentally? "Raven, about how powerful are you?" Zero asked, putting his saber away.

"Far more powerful than you, and that is all you need to know," Raven said and attacked swiftly. Zero moved to the side just in time to avoid his arm getting severed. "Why do you ask? Is it not obvious?" Raven questioned, still trading blows with the two.

Zero was grunting and gasping with effort, trying to keep a clear head. "Just wondering if you were as powerful as that other guy in there," Zero indicated the room Jet was fighting in.

"Does it really matter? I don't need to be as powerful as he is to crush you," Raven said with a grin. After finishing the sentence he made a wide horizontal cut at both of them, who were standing right next to each other, they jumped back in sync and counterattacked at the same time. Their sabers were crossed and Raven blocked both at once. Zero made his move while Raven was blocking. He kicked a hard kick into Raven's shin; it made a crack sound and a chip of the robotic plating shot off…

The black smoke leaked out of Robotnik for a long time. All of a sudden it materialized into Shade. "That man is so useless, I could not stand being near him anymore," Shade said in a low voice. The others gasped, though expecting him to be here, they didn't expect him to be so…overconfident. He killed his own ally, and simply because he didn't like him. Link pulled a Light Arrow out and fired it quick, but Shade just blinked and it fell out of the air. A loud cackle filled the room, and Shade inched forward.

Link gulped. Shade sent a small tendril out and wrapped it around his neck, lifting him off the ground. He tightened it and Link began gasping for air. Knuckles sprinted and chopped the tendril with a Karate move, but it didn't budge. "Oh my God…He's so powerful…" Knuckles held his hand, just touching the tendril made it sting. Link was in excruciating pain. He reached for the Master Sword and flailed around, a slice landing on the tendril and cutting it loose. Link fell limp to the ground and slowly got on his knees, choking and gasping…

Jet was having a good time. A few punches here, a kick there. He loved his job ever so much. To think he got paid just to toy with some weaklings as a distraction. _Not that one as powerful as Shade needs a distraction, but I am not complaining. _Jet thought. Vescreth was the best, no matter what he did, he kept getting up for more. At one point though, when Jet least expected it, Vescreth disappeared. Jet looked around cautiously, and was kneed in the back of the head so hard it planted him face first. He stood up instantly and saw Vescreth's eyes red and his Katana glowing black.

"A demon, huh? Now I get it…you're the one from the village!" Jet said, astonished. "Boy, have you grown!" He laughed a whole-hearted laugh, and slapped his knee. "This is just too good, I never thought you would have made it!" Jet couldn't stop laughing, and Vescreth made a realization.

"You…you are the man who bought my parents' crops, aren't you?" Vescreth grinded his teeth and growled. "I knew it…I knew there was something wrong with you…I couldn't place it but…" Vescreth was shocked. "You are why they are dead…"

"Yes, it was my idea for Shade to attack your poor little village," Jet said, making a mock sympathy hand gesture. "I wanted to see some blood, and at the time, I wasn't at my full potential…" Jet shrugged. "Look where it got you, a nice sword, no burdening family to protect…"

Vescreth was _pissed._ He grabbed Jet by the neck and squeezed with both hands as hard as he could. Jet was taken off guard, just for a moment, but it was enough. Jackie and John saw the opportunity and opened fire. The bullets slammed into Jet, and he began bleeding profusely. "How do you like seeing your _OWN _blood?" Vescreth continued squeezing until Jet stopped moving. Vescreth let the limp body fall to the ground, and collapsed to his knees…

Raven was just getting started, even with a small chip out of his leg; he was far too powerful and fast for the two of them. Zero was giving it all he had, his green clashing with Raven's black constantly, but Axl was something else. Axl went off to the side and whipped out his ricochet lasers and fired them all around the room. Zero ducked, and Raven followed. One hit Raven in the back, and knocked him full to the ground. Zero began a thrust into Raven's back with his saber, but was kicked in the chest by Raven upon standing up.

Zero was now on the ground and trying to stand. Raven flipped him onto his back and planted his foot on Zero's chest. He pressed down, and Zero grunted, and clamped both hands onto the foot. Zero, with all of his strength, lifted Raven off and sent him flipping backward. Raven landed gracefully and rushed Zero. He didn't have time to dodge, and slice to the left arm made a massive gash, barely leaving it attached. Sparks flew, as Zero refused to stop fighting. Axl was firing whatever he could, but Raven was effortlessly blocking it all…

Link stood up, and got his sword and shield out. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, and Shadow stood beside him. Shade creped closer and closer, and out of nowhere morphed into a large oval with four blades wobbling at the end of tentacles. He spun them quickly, until it was like one blade all the way around him. Sonic rushed up and jumped on the blades stepping on each one in a circle. He whipped out a Chaos Emerald and shouted. "Chaos Freeze!"

Shade stopped cold. He was beginning to get crystallized by ice. Shadow took the cue. "Sonic! Give me the emerald!" He shouted, and Sonic tossed it through the air. Shadow caught it and rushed to Shade. "Chaos Banish!" He shouted and a purple ball engulfed Shade's frozen form. It shrank down to the size and shape of the Emerald and returned to it. "He doesn't stand a chance against the ancient powers of a Chaos Emerald," Shadow said tossing Shade's new prison up and down before tossing it back to Sonic, who caught it and stored it away…

Vescreth was breathing deeply, his eyes changing back, and his sword returning to normal. "I can't believe it…He is responsible for my Father's death…" Vescreth said, and slammed his fist into the ground, hard. The sheer force of the blow, in rage, blew a small crater into the steel floor.

Gina approached him slowly. "It's all right…It's over," She said, and kneeled beside him. "But now we need to help the others," She said softly and looked into his eyes. He looked at her and nodded. He stood up to his full height and walked swiftly to the next room. The pool of blood around Jet's body growing by the second, he wanted to leave the painful scene behind.

Raven was getting bored. They weren't enough of a challenge. At that moment, the group from the other room entered. Raven stopped cold. "Jet…what happened to _Jet_?" He said astonished. "Did he let you through to fight me? All right! I could use more of a challenge," He said and cracked his mechanical knuckles.

John smirked, and with great satisfaction;" Jet? He's dead…we killed him ourselves," and pulled his gun out. Gina and Jackie did the same, and Vescreth began to morph into his demon power form. Raven was taken by disbelief.

"How?" He said and dropped his saber to the ground. "There is no way…it isn't possible!" He rushed forward and landed a crushing punch to John's smirk, blowing him back and knocking him unconscious instantly. Raven puts his two fists out and lands blows on Gina and Jackie's face, doing the same to them. Raven grabs Vescreth by the arm, and lifts him. Vescreth gasps and thrusts forward with his sword, but Raven won't go down.

Raven _catches _the sword between his fingers, and with a slight twitch **_snaps _**the sword in two. Vescreth stops. He can't move. His father's sword, it was gone. He was stupid enough to try and fight a being like Raven with it and not even be careful with such a precious piece of metal. Raven kicks Vescreth full in the stomach and blows him back through the door he came in from. Raven sees the pool of blood.

"…" The audible silence was thick in the air, and everyone knew what was about to happen. Raven got angry.

"_How…dare…you…" _He didn't even bother looking back. He removed his helmet and walked slowly to Vescreth. Vescreth coughed up a small bit of blood. "That isn't even close to what I am gonna do to you…"

Sonic laughed. "Man, that was easier than I could have hoped," he said, tossing the Emerald up and down.

"I was expecting at least a little more out of that myself," Tails said. As if on cue, the Emerald begins spasms, and explodes…

Shade comes out and stares at Shadow with a cold stare. Colder than ice. Shade extends a tentacle and whips him out of the way. The same tentacle flips over and knocks Sonic away. "Did you fools think that a pathetic Chaos Emerald could hope to hold **_me_**?" Shade blinked, and shook his body side to side as in a 'no'. "Such toys are meaningless to a being of my power…you haven't got the slightest idea of what you are _screwing _with" shade finishes, and morphs into a wolf. He leaps for Link, who blocks with his shield and tosses him over. The shield vibrates and the handle breaks off, making it worthless.

Shade gets his ground and makes another leap, which Link dodges easily with a duck, and sticks his sword above his head so it scrapes Shade's under side. Shade groans briefly and morphs into a Cobra. Sonic and Shadow rush to it and grab the tail in perfect sync, and stop, extending Shade too far, and he snaps back together in slight pain. He stands up straight and Lunges at sonic, who runs along his back to the other end. Shade accidentally ties himself up. With a growl Shade morphs back into a ball, and extends one, maybe 1 mm thick tentacle.

With a slow, steady motion, the tentacle passes straight into Link's stomach. Shade makes no motion after the tentacle is within Link, and Link stops completely. He is as if he is entranced, his skin growing pale. Sonic and Shadow, along with Tails and Knuckles, assault Shade fully, and in haste they all get blown away by thicker Tentacles. Link makes a shaky, slow movement with his hand towards the tentacle's spot in his stomach.

Axl and Zero look on in absolute disbelief. Raven had become a vengeful beast, and Vescreth never stood a chance…While he was trying to stand up, Raven slammed him down with a foot, and lifted him up by the torn shirt. Zero rushed in with his saber, but Raven never glanced at him, but when Zero got within a foot of Raven, the back of his hand met full force with Zero's face, never missing a blow to Vescreth either. Vescreth had fallen into a state of vegetation.

The unthinkable happened…Jet was gone. The blood remained, but the body was completely gone from the spot. Raven took notice and ceased motion…"How in the hell is he gone? What did you do to him?" Raven asked in a cold, flat, threatening tone, directed to anyone in the room. "I swear, none of you will leave here in less than 5 pieces if you do not tell me what the _fuck _is going on!" Raven was getting extremely confused and angry. Vescreth's shirt was ripped entirely off with the next blow, and he fell to the ground.

Who should appear in a burst of flames other than Jet himself, completely unharmed. He laid a hand on Raven's shoulder. "That's enough, brother…I am perfectly fine," Jet spoke softly. "Nothing these mortals do can harm me, and I am almost ashamed of you for doubting me," he said with a mock-offended tone. Raven was struck with utter disbelief.

"Why would you deceive me? What was there to gain?" Raven asked, standing up to his full height and looking Jet in the eye.

"Shade betrayed me so very long ago…You may not remember, but you…you were there during the massacre at Vescreth's village. I gave Shade express warnings that you should not come to harm…He refused to take orders from me. I pretended to forgive him, had to earn his trust," Jet stared at Vescreth's body and it was in awful shape. "The only reason you were able to live again even so recently…is because of this half-demon here,"

"You mean…I am your brother? And Shade killed me long ago?" Raven sighed. "What kind of fool do you take me for?" he kneed Jet as hard as possible in the stomach. Jet winced as much from the impact of the blow as the shock if Raven's betrayal. He fumed silently, for a long moment frozen in the position the knee had forced him in to.

"Raven…you have made one mistake in the course of your life…and that was it," Jet said, returning to his normal position, and removing his gloves. Raven grinned and shrugged, drawing his beam saber. He lunged, Jet caught the blade with his bare icy hand, and it froze over.

"I was always superior to you, little brother. Do not even try to fight with me," Jet snapped the beam sword in half in it's frozen state, and sighed. "I must tell you now…do not attack me again, or I will kill you…" Jet shoved Raven back with a push of his hand and Raven fell flat.

The others had regained consciousness, and John was more than a bit confused. "Is anyone else completely lost right now?" He half-asked, half-knew, and scratched his head. Jet shot him a glance.

"Follow me, we must chain the beast before his plan is fully realized. He does not seek enslavement, he seeks eradication of all living things not loyal to him by choice…"Jet explained, and helped each of them up. Raven snarled, and stood up on his own.

"I will go where you lead me, Jet, just know that I disagree with this entirely," Raven said, as the whole group walked through the door leading to the final, main chamber.

Shade was concentrating, and Link was a complete ghost white by now. Out of nowhere a freezing air current cut the tentacle clean off with the sheer cold. Shade looked with surprise and contempt to Jet and Raven. "To think that at one time, you were my best and most trusted elites…" Shade made a click sound a few times, bobbing back and forth. He morphed into a spider form and with webbing tied everyone up. "Don't even struggle, Link's life force is mine, and now all of you will belong to me,"

Link was not webbed up, there was evidentially no reason to, and he did not move or breathe. Vescreth was battered and broken, but was thinking very clearly for the first time in a long, long time. These people deserved to live. "Shade!" He called out, and Shade glanced disinterestedly at him.

"What is it, worthless half-demon? Ready to beg to become my servant?" Shade cackled with his now eight yellow spider eyes closed.

"It is time…for your judgment," Vescreth stated clearly and seriously, not a hint of lie, fear, or uncertainty in his voice. His acting talents amused Shade. There was not a thing he could do to harm such a powerful being as Shade, was there?

"Do you know…how my father's sword was created, and why it burned black like it did?" Vescreth questioned, knowing full well Shade could not answer. "There was one thing the Truth seeker in the village taught me I never actually took seriously…never spoke of it, but now that I have thought on it…it is the only way to defeat you," Vescreth said.

"My healing powers, they do not help demons. In fact, a demon that is healed may very well have their soul locked away due to the power mixes of good and evil. You, you are the best example of an evil demon I have ever known in my life," Vescreth had a primal focus, and used all the brute strength he could muster to break free of the webbings bounding him to the ground. Vescreth leapt up and gained his balance before stopping time. He had precious little time, as Shade could disrupt his power with ease.

Vescreth focused all of his healing into one short burst and put all of the Good, pure power into Shade's body. Even frozen in time the area shook massively. Time resumed and Vescreth fell to the floor. Shade was shrinking, and becoming a significantly less threatening presence. After a minute of agonizing grunts and moans, Shade had disappeared entirely.

The webs holding the others down were broken instantly and they stood up and stretched. Link's Life Force had been seemingly returned, and he stood up, though shaky. He could not believe the peace he felt around him, as if everything was right…the Death Egg was falling, and it crashed with a bang, after Vescreth safely teleported them, Raven, Jet, and all, out of the vehicle.

Jet, however still felt uneasy over the truth of the victory…

Man, I lost it, I couldn't keep typing, I gotta take a break. I know I said this was the last but…It isn't. See you next time.


	22. Final Battle Part 2: The End

I'm aware that a majority of those who once read this story no longer frequent this site, but I feel as if I shouldn't leave it unfinished...The final chapter of the Sonic and the Sword series, and the last thing I shall write for this website. Anyone who happens across it, I hope you enjoy.

Final Disclaimer: The characters herein do not belong to me, other than Shade. Every other character is a direct take of or inspired by someone else's creation. They deserve the credit for the originals, I only took them to my own little world.

The rather large group of allies were looking on in disbelief at the carnage. The Death Egg had landed hard, consuming itself in a sizable inferno. Luckily, the only thing that came to harm was the forest that was already decaying due to the pollutants emerging from Robotnik's fortress. Still; It was an impressive sight. Flames reached for the sky and all seemed to be over. Raven was the first to speak. "So...I suppose this makes me an ally?" He lets an expression similar to a smile form on his face.

"Just so long as you're willing, Raven...This world still needs to be protected. Losing Robotnik means that there is no leadership; No guidance. Without that, there may be new problems within days." John spoke as he watched the flames slowly burn themselves out. The sky seemed red...Almost unnaturally so, but they all assumed it was due to the flames.

Jet remained silent for a long time, and yet all the others were now sharing pats on the back and endless congratulations. The man with the peaceful blue eyes then turned to face them all, his black trenchcoat giving him an imposing visage when contrasted to the flames behind him. "This...is not over..."

As if on cue, the flames of the forest began to grow even more intense. Most of their faces looked on in horror...all but Jet and Vescreth. The half demon wore an entirely blank expression. He started to walk in slow, deliberate steps toward the forest. Jet had seen it first, and now the others were taking notice. On the ground was a newly forged sword; It gave off a Black aura more intense than any they had ever seen. It was something similar to looking at the sun, but in reverse. The pure darkness was enough to hurt their eyes.

Raven looked to his brother, Jet. "What does it mean?" At that, Vescreth had reached the sword and lifted it from the ground.

Link, Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, and Tails were all watching silently. John drew his weapon, and Jackie drew hers. Gina had since made her way to the back of the group; Combat certainly wasn't her specialty, and if anything was about to happen, she didn't want to be near it.

Jet turned to watch the half-demon lift the sword, and spoke softly. "The result of purifying a demonic essence..." The flames began to die down once more. "Is the forging of a sword. The more powerful the demon, the more powerful the sword as well." Even as he explained, a sense of uneasiness came over his voice. The sword continued to burn black as Vescreth picked it up to examine it.

A voice that returned far too soon rang out as if coming from all directions. "Destiny is a strange thing, Half-demon..." It spoke specifically to Vescreth, and yet everyone present felt the physical chill the echo brought on.

Raven, Axl, and Zero all drew their respective sabers and ignited them. Raven's had recharged the energy lost from the blade being broken, and burned black fully. However, even that blade which was once thought pure darkness paled in comparison to the Demonic sword now wielded by the Half-demon among them. "Destiny cannot be changed...It is pre-written and everyone must play their part. You played yours perfectly, and now the ultimate result can finally come to pass..."

There was a very noticable silence, tension filling the air. Vescreth stood as if frozen, and all the others looked on...not a single one of them dared make a move. The Demonic voice of Shade continued. "It was always intended to make you mine, Vescreth...From the very day your village burned, to this point in time...All has gone according to Destiny."

Jackie looked to John and nodded. They both fired their previously drawn firearms at the purely black weapon. Jet looked back at them and tried to shout a warning, but it was far too late. The moment the bullets left the chamber they were doomed. The pure darkness averted the bullets in perfect reverse before they even got halfway to their destination, sending them back into the barrels of the weapons before even a millisecond had passed. Jet's voice finally found volume as the guns were already exploding. "Don't do it!"

Jackie and John both grabbed their arms in pain, the result of the backfire causing metal to burst and tear their arms up. They fell to their knees simultaneously and the dark echoing laughter returned in full force. "Destiny cannot be challenged, mortals...I am a creation of Destiny to insure that this world dies." The two humans were leaning against each other, wincing from pain and a serious blow to their hopes.

Vescreth hadn't said a word since lifting the sword, and soon it was revealed why. As he turned back to face the group, his eyes did not hold the red glow as they normally would, but instead they were yellow...The color of Shade's orbs in every form he took. "This half-breed was always intended to be the bringer of destruction into this world." The words came from the mouth of their once-ally Vescreth. "I am Death itself, mortals...And this world has been deemed unworthy to continue."

The injured pair slowly brought themselves to standing again. Jet and Raven stood side by side, both wearing looks of concern. Such an expression was uncharacteristic of beings with their immense power, and yet everyone present could feel their anxiety...This wasn't a battle that they could win.

But they still had to try. Axl and Zero were the first to rush in, all the others looking to them with various startled expressions. Shade smiled softly with the half-demon's mouth, and lifted the sword parallel to the ground. "Perish..." As the word escaped his mouth, both Zero and Axl fell to the ground, not moving again. Silence once again took over the scene, as the wind began to howl ominously. Gina looked on from the back and put a hand over her mouth, speaking softly. "...Why did they try to fight?" The words didn't go unnoticed by the Demon, who continued to smile softly, almost lovingly, at the shocked group of people.

"They fight because it is their wish to die in vain." The being lowered the sword and looked on to those remaining. "Now would anyone else like to throw their lives away?" Even as his words faded out of hearing, the two whom were thought defeated stood slowly.

"You can't stop us..." Zero uttered in a grave tone. "We've lost too much and come too far to let this end..."

The supreme evil that was once Vescreth grinned. "I suppose your bodies make it more difficult to slay you..." He raises his sword again and takes one step forward. "Very well then..." At that instant, a blur of blue slammed into the being's face, richocheting off and landing back with the group. Sonic wasn't going to stand idly by.

While any other being would have been thrown back at such a forceful impact, Shade merely continued to smile. "So be it then." With that, he vanished. There was silence for a moment, and they all looked around cautiously save for Jet. He stood perfectly still and silent, eyes closed. He thrust his hand out to his left and grasped at something, and a moment later the form of Vescreth appeared, neck within the strong grip of the taller man. "You forget yourself, Shade...You are not so superior as to toy with one such as me." He opened his hand and an invisible force knocked Shade back into the burning forest with incredible speed.

Sonic and Shadow took this chance to rush after them, Knuckles shortly behind them. The two faster ones caught up with Shade as he slammed into a burning tree of massive thickness, and hurled themselves at his chest, colliding hard. Soon after, Knuckles threw a hard punch at his face and ground the being's skull back into the tree, making a huge indentation. The three of them took up a formation, Knuckles in the front and the hedgehogs on either side. The rest of the group made their way into the burning forest, though not much remained of it any longer. Embers and small flames licked every now and then, but the massive tree was all that remained in good condition.

"The combined might of every one of you is not enough to defeat a supreme being..." Shade lifted his head from the dent in the tree, causing wood to splinter around him. He showed no signs of any wound at all. "I shall weed out the insignificant ones first, I suppose." He shrugs, then vanishes and within an instant, John, Jackie, Gina, and Tails were all held within a black cage. Shade reappeared perched on top of the structure. "I will feed on their life energies...That way I will make this fight more interesting." He looks at his own outstretched right hand. "The power this body holds is quite immense...But I must unlock it before I may use it fully." He leaps down from the cage and holds his sword out, pointing at Axl and Zero.

The two machine-men take the cue and rush him with their blades drawn and take fierce swings. The demonic sword was brought up to block them, and the energy blades dissipated into nothingness upon contact. "Useless beings...You are no challenge either..." He blinks once, and in the absence of the strong yellow light of his eyes, the two are teleported into the dark prison of the others. He looked at those left. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Jet, Raven...and Link.

The three smaller, furrier ones made another attack, Sonic and Shadow each going for a leg and Knuckles aiming a punch for the demon's face. Not one of them made contact. A sound like a heartbeat rose from the sword as a pulse of energy washed out and blew the three of them away when they were mere inches from contact. "My task is to rid this world of life...but without a challenge it is meaningless." He snaps and transports the three into the cage. The structure was pulsing a soft purple glow and those within would feel their bodies weakening.

Link stood still, watching the hopeless struggle with a blank expression. His hand was on his torso, in the spot where Shade had nearly succeeded in draining his life-force aboard the Death Egg. He didn't wish that fate on anyone else, but he had to think thoroughly before making any actions. Raven was next to charge forth, and served to be quite the opponent.

Shade had to react quickly to the almost instant slash at his torso, but the demonic blade came to place in time to stop the energy from causing harm. Unlike Zero and Axl, Raven's blade was able to stay powered even when in contact with the pure evil of the other's sword. At that point, he became confidant and tried to thrust at the Demon's chest. The black steel of the Demon's blade came up to parry the energy blade away, and while Raven was disoriented, Shade thrust forth an open palm and slammed it into his chest. The impact was severe, causing fragments of sturdy armor to explode in several directions, leaving a large hole. Raven still chose to fight, however, and made a low sweep at the being, which was easily jumped over and countered with a swift kick to the face. Raven had lost all will to fight even as he flew backward from the colossal impact, and once he landed decided not to get up again.

Shade proceeded to move Raven into the prison which grew ever-brighter with life energies being drained. Those within had their eyes closed and would appear dead, surely in a state of extreme exhaustion. "Now now...Jet and the Hero of Time...You are all that remain. I assume you will give me a challenge?" He smirks and begins to take deliberate and measured steps toward the pair. Jet draws the rifle from his back and fires in an instant, and even as the bullet turned back in on itself, he fired again. He teleported above the Demon and threw the gun down at him in less time than it took for the bullets to collide.

Shade looked up and smiled as the gun exploded and blew metal down directly into his eyes and face. Jet landed behind the Demon and leapt forward with a sword drawn, thrusting quickly enough to make contact with the flesh as Shade still looked upward at the gun.

It was like trying to cut diamonds with a plastic knife. The skin of the demon's hide was thick and impossible to cut through, even Jet's enhanced strength and finely-crafted blade could make no mark upon the flesh. "You don't understand, Jet...You never should have betrayed me. Your brother is of no consequence, and if you remained loyal to me, I may have let you continue living..." The Demon spoke calmly, the sharp bits of metal from the rifle's explosion having no more effect than the sword, leaving his face unmarred. His eyes were glowing a brighter yellow...some might even say golden. To anyone else, he may have appeared to be a merciful angel, but the pure black sword he wielded gave a true representation.

Jet held the sword against the demon's back, the point of it trying to find a way past the armor-like skin, but finding no place to puncture. Jet strained as his blade eventually broke in two and caused him to surge forward from built up momentum. He collided with Shade and managed to bring him down as the Demon wasn't expecting such a neanderthal method of attack. "I had thought you more sophisticated..." Shade uttered as he layed on the ground, Jet springing to his feet quickly and removing his gloves. Still, Link watched silently, sword placed on his back.

Jet's icy and burning hands were exposed to the air, causing a climate change. The entire sky filled with clouds, the icy essence meeting with the heat and evaporating unseen by the eye. Before long, it began to rain softly, and grew to a full downpoor. Those in the cage would look paler and paler, save for the three robotic ones whom merely sat silently in defeat.

Shade looked up at the sky and smirked, lying on his back. "Such a fitting change, isn't it Jet? The atmospheric change provoked by my most powerful of allies, and the only one I felt I could trust...and yet the one that was the most treacherous, even turning your fool of a brother against me. The nerve it must have taken to betray a being such as myself, I commend you for it." With that he rose to his feet and pointed the sword at Jet, whose elementally enhanced hands were glowing in the dark. Shade rushed forward with speed unheard of by any mortal and most who were something else, and yet Jet managed to close both hands around the blade before it struck him.

Jet's soul was not the same as the others...the blade did not sap him of energy upon contact, but neither did it have any positive effects. Shade continued to smile at the man even as the dark-skinned giant threw Shade by the tip of the sword to the side, sending him back into the massive tree. This time it didn't survive the impact, and began to fall. It fell in the direction of Link, who had his eyes closed and arms crossed. Jet began to make a move to stop the falling, but Shade had teleported directly above him and delivered a strong kick downward which shoved him to the ground.

As the tree came within an inch of Link's head, he thrust his right hand up and stopped it dead. His gauntlets gleamed as he invoked their power to throw the tree upward. It came back down and nearly landed on Shade but the demonic creature merely blinked and it shattered. Splinters of wood rained in many places, but a small circle of clean ground was around shade, all the shards being averted. Link then went back to standing silently, eyes never opening.

Shade shrugged it off as less than nothing and turned back to face Jet, who now lifted himself out of the muddy hole Shade had thrust him into. The form of Vescreth remained the same, and yet anyone who could sense power would notice that it steadily increased. Shade's influence was taking hold, and the life force drained from those who had already fallen was serving to make him an even more frightening thing. Demon could no longer properly describe this new creature that was coming into existence.

"I told you already, Jet...I am Death itself, and not even you are beyond me." He sheathes the sword and rushes toward Jet, holding his hands out as if inviting Jet to stop him. Jet did so, and clamped his hands around Shade's as the two powers collided and stopped each other. Jet's elementally infused hands clamped around Shade's impenetrable skin, both of them appearing to struggle.

But Jet knew the truth...the moment he came into contact with that cursed flesh, he had sealed his own fate. Victory was impossible. He closed his eyes and ceased struggling as he began to fade, and was reformed inside the cage now holding the entire team...The entire team other than Link, who now opened his eyes.

Shade looked on with absolute triumph apparent in his gaze. "Your friends are defeated, Link...it is time to surrender your life force to me." Link's eyes were normally blue, yes...but now they seemed to glow. A very faint blue energy radiated from those orbs. He studied Shade slowly, scrutinizing the body he now controlled.

"My friends..." He spoke softly, but his voice practically echoed. "Are not defeated." He then draws his sword, the Master Sword, the great destroyer of evil. He also draws a shield...but not the one he normally would use, as that one had been broken in the previous battle against Shade aboard the Death Egg. No...This shield was something else. It appeared to be composed of pure energy, and yet still held a distinct physical form. "My friends will not be defeated until I am..."

Shade smiles, the expression beginning slowly and then maturing into a full blown show of satisfaction. "Then you choose to fight..." He draws that evil blade and rushes forth in an instant. Link didn't even have to move until the very last second, and as he brought his shield up to defend at the key point, Shade was blown back several feet, but landed perfectly, as if expecting it. "And so Destiny reveals itself to be correct once more..." He smirks and cracks his neck, looking Link over with a hint of amusement and delight.

Link narrows those powerful eyes. "Destiny. You speak of Destiny, but you do not know its course..."

Shade replies after a moment. "Oh, but I do, Link...The Hero of Time will face the ultimate evil of two generations...Ganon of his own, and the source of all that is dark in the future...and that is me." He nods once, as if the fact had been set in stone. "But the story tells that the Hero of Time will not succeed in vanquishing the evil that is not of his time. Every action I have taken goes precisely according to Destiny's plan. I played my part, and it is time to play yours. It is time for you to die." Shade rushes forth again, this time a bit slower, evidently preparing to defend against the magical shield's repelling force.

Link doesn't seem at all amused by the monologue, and keeps his shield in place, and instead of using it to defend, he makes a downward slash with the Master Sword, coming into contact with Shade's own immensely powerful blade. The clashing of opposites causes all color to drain out of the world for a moment and sends a colossal wave of energy outward in all directions, though the two clashing titans remain locked together, each blade held fast against the other. Neither of the wielders seem to budge an inch, but both wear looks of determination. "How does it feel to know you will lose, Hero of Time?" Shade grins with the mouth of Vescreth, the half-demon apparently dead for all intents and purposes.

As Link continued to hold back the sword of Shade, he brings his shield up in an attempt to strike the demon in the face with it. Shade ducks it and brings his sword down with him, Link stumbles forward from the loss of resistance...

And falls perfectly into the thrust of Shade, the blade of Darkness impaling him fully, blood seeping slowly from a wound all the way through where his heart was. The dark sword absorbed all the blood soon after it made its entrance into the outside world. Shade closed his eyes and savored the moment, as apparently the blood served as nourishment. "And it is over..."

And yet Link continued to move, his heart impaled but his body still stubbornly alive. He grabs Shade's sword with his right hand, having dropped the shield when he was making his earlier attack. As Shade noticed the touch, he saw something that filled him with horror...Link's hand held the glow of the Triforce...but the piece representing Courage was not all that lit fully...No, on the back of his hand, the entire Triforce had presence. "Shade..." Link's voice was almost angelic in its echoed properties. The hand on the sword twisted once and -shattered- the demonic weapon as if it were made of decaying wood. "Destiny takes its own course...altering it on one end alters it on the other...You weren't meant to tamper with history like you did..."

Shade groaned in pain, the sword being the container of his powerful essence. "Silence, Mortal! You do not know what you speak of!"

And yet Link's wound had closed the moment the sword ceased to remain whole. "Evil does not control all things, Shade...while at one time, it may have been destined to have you emerge the victor, your tampering has thrown things out of balance..."

Those in the cage suddenly began to awaken slowly, each of them rushing to the side of the cage as quickly as their bodies could carry them. As they looked at link, they noticed a faint golden aura around him. Suddenly Shade's eyes looked like nothing, so overwhelmed they were by the purity of Link's own power. "The Hero of Time, Shade..." Link spoke, his voice steadily gaining more power. "Wields the Master Sword..."

Shade looked on in terror, Link's right hand clasping his neck, while his left hand began to slowly lift the Master Sword upward. "And the Master Sword destroys evil..." He then thrusts that legendary blade into the Demon's skull, the armor-like skin giving way as if it were butter. A tremendous wail erupted from the mouth of the creature, and soon after a black energy rushed outward. It was trying to escape, but link caught hold of the ethereal form as if it were a physical thing, and held it steady. "You cannot escape...Destiny..." He smirks as he turned the word back on the Demon, and brought the sword down once more in a vertical slash, cutting the dark energy in half.

The cage holding the others dissipated rapidly, and so did the form that was once Shade. It evaporated into nothingness. "Time isn't a straight line...it overlaps in on itself...I still exist in a form somewhere...You cannot destroy true evil, Hero of Time...I will...succeed..." The voice of the demon grew progressively weaker and then faded into nothing as the last of the shadowy essence dissipated. As Link looked around, he noticed that Jet and Raven had vanished.

Gina was the first to speak, and everyone turned to face her. "I think...they were slaves to Shade's will. And now that his influence is gone, I don't know what could have happened...but I'm sure they're both very happy." She looked to the sky, which slowly began to clear up. John had since reached to take Jackie's hand and the both of them smiled at each other...and then the world slowly began to fade from Link's perception.

LON LON RANCH:

Malon had only said goodbye to Link a few moments ago, and yet when she left the stables she almost ran clean into him. "Link? Weren't you leaving?" She all but yelped as she stumbled backward.

"Everything's taken care of..." He smiles and the two of them walk toward the exit of the ranch.

Okay. I simply had to do that. I went about 2 years without updating the story, and I hate to leave something unfinished. Turned out to be a heck of a lot longer than I thought, but oh well. Vescreth died, Jet and Raven vanished entirely from existence since they were actually creations of Shade. Loose ends tied, everything is as it should be, and it's The End! Thanks to anyone who still reads this, and I wish you all good luck/health in the future. Sayonara it's been nice! 


	23. Additional Information: Shade's Origin

I felt like typing this up, if you don't like it oh well. It kinda struck me all of a sudden that I should explain Shade's origins. Don't chew me out if it's not good, because I more or less made it up as I went along. I tried to make it sensible, but if I didn't, screw it. I was bored. 

(SEPERATING LINE)

The man had been seeking power his entire life, and he was finally near the ultimate source. He was quite gifted in all sorts of magic, but he had taken a particular liking to the darker arts. He wore a robe made of the purest black, supernatural in appearance, as if the cloth itself absorbed all the light around it. "What greater power than Death itself?" His voice filled the vast chamber, an arena of his own design, with only one source of light.

A glowing sphere toward the center of the large room, about the size of a watermelon, managed to offer a gentle blue illumination to every end of the circular floor. The robed figure did not cast a shadow, rather he was the very essence of shadow. The material of his robe was something he had invented on his own, concentrating a mass of dark energy on a simple piece of clothing. It managed to hold form, yet obliterated all traces of the mold, which left nothing but a perfect solidification of darkness. A perfect defense against the light he had grown to hate so much.

Another figure stood in the room, dressed in what appeared to be very simple clothing,looking to the sphere with blind eyes, sensing the agony caused in this room in the years prior. "Dying souls have an eerie light, don't they?" His voice was ragged; He was obviously past his prime, and possibly near death. His body shook uncontrollably, resting himself on a delicately carved walking stick. The shadow turned his hooded face to observe the older man, pointing a robe-covered finger at him.

"Souls are eerie by nature; the very essence of a human life...But with enough torture, they begin to lose their luminous qualities, and can even become black, a very welcome change. There are exactly seventy-eight souls within that sphere, all of which began their existence as bright as the sun itself." He turned his head, admiring the intricate runes etched all along the dome-like ceiling of his chamber. "All of them held a unique fire, signifying their power in life. Nobles, Warlords, Scholars, each of them unique in their strengths..." He paused again, setting his eyes back upon the elderly man.

"So...You've brought me here...in order to make me the seventy-ninth soul, haven't you?" The man's eyes glowed softly, the hazy, sightless orbs reflecting the light of the souls in the center of the chamber. He had a rather long white beard, neatly taken care of. His head was fully covered with hair of the same pure white pigment, stretching down well past his shoulders. His simple clothes were those of an old man with little money, tattered and dirty in their appearance. The white-haired man trembled with age, frigidity, and fear.

The darkness was walking toward the ball of souls, putting a hand out to tenderly caress the shape, causing the light to dim further as it came into contact with the pure material surrounding him. "Yes, elder...Your wisdom and your experience...That's all that remains...The only thing I still need in order to obtain true power." The man pulled down his hood, revealing a very young face, no more than twenty by the looks of it, though almost certainly older beneath it. His eyes had a distinct color, a yellow-red mix unlike anything anyone had seen. He took his hand away from his creation, the light returning to its former state.

The elder's blind eyes narrowed, a scowl apparent on his face. "Power. Power leads to nothing aside from despair, and yet you clearly think it can bring you happiness..." He stood up, having been slouching previously. "What do you intend to do once you obtain the power you crave?" His voice suddenly held a strong will, his body no longer shaking.

"Why, I will do whatever I choose to do...Not that it is any concern of yours, dear elder..." He finally turned his body fully in order to take slow steps toward the newly revitalized older man. He reached into his robe, pulling out a beautifully crafted sacrificial dagger, clearly forged for the express purpose of ending a particular man's life. "You are not long for this world." He stopped walking a few meters away from the man, suddenly cautious about his approach. The elder no longer shook. He only held one hand to the head of his cane, his legs holding him sturdily.

"The shadows are not to be taken lightly, boy. Prophecies have spoken of a simpleton such as yourself attempting to obtain power through sacrifice...It was thought that the meaning was hard work and compromise. No, I suppose it was quite literal. To think I was destined to meet that man, let alone become his target...it's quite humorous..." His wrinkled features, at least those that were visible behind his beard, curved into a smirk.

The younger one stayed his ground, awaiting the elder's move. "I can see you're no feeble old man...No matter, this place was designed for combat." He closed his eyes, and the runes carved throughout the dome suddenly took on life; They twisted and roamed about the wall. At the same time, the orb in the center of the room began to dissipate. "The souls will bear witness to your death, further darkening them...It won't be long after this day that I reach my goal." He puts the dagger back into his robe, instead drawing a rather plain hand scythe, crafted of a simple looking metal.

The older one continued. "Humorous, and at the same time horrible..." His voice grew solemn, eyes looking sightlessly forward. "The prophecy tells that with the eightieth soul, an evil greater than any nightmare would be born. An evil that embodies the shadows themselves, a demon of immeasurable power. I do so hope you can pass on peacefully knowing that your death created such a being." He taps his cane on the ground once, softly. "Just as I will pass painfully, knowing that my life's end assisted in the creation of it as well."

The dark figure chuckled, scythe held out to the side in a ready position. "Once I gather the seventy-ninth soul, I will become immortal...It will never come to pass, unless it is me that this prophecy refers to." He smirks, eyes narrowing as he regains his confidence, taking slow steps toward the other man.

"No, my dear foolish boy, immortality is an impossible goal. There's always something, somewhere, to end your free existence. Nothing is without equal; nothing lasts forever." He lifts his cane from the ground, delicate etchings glowing white along the wooden shaft. Behind him, the wall danced with the life of seventy-eight souls, all of them silently milling about in a single, shapeless mass. "Your life will end here, in fact...When I take it from you." With that, the previously trembling old man leapt forward with feline grace, taking the evil one by complete surprise. The cane was brought down hard in an attempt to crack the young-looking being's skull, but was met by the scythe, which held fast under the strength of the elder.

"Full of surprises..." The strained, dark voice of the yellow-eyed youth escaped his lips. He pushed upward at the cane, forcing it away from him. The white hair of the elder begain to glow, a sharp contrast to the youth's shadowy trappings. "But it will take more than surprises to be my equal, old man..." He made his own charge, scythe held at his side as his left hand thrust forth to the elder's chest, making easy contact and sending him back forcefully.

To the younger's surprise, the elder planted his feet on the wall behind him and effortlessly absorbed the entire force of the impact onto his legs, then resumed a fighting stance, the enchanted cane held straight in front of him. The dark youth charged again, silently closing the short distance between them without so much as a grunt, swinging the scythe only to have it blocked. The two figures, light and dark, battled equally, neither gaining or giving ground. The clashes of their weapons created a torrent of dark energy mixed with white light.

The battle was silent, the weapons most certainly not made of conventional materials. It was a duel of light and darkness in the purest form, the elder's previously torn clothes bleaching themselves white and beginning to glow magnificently. The shadow absorbed every bit of light, and the light cancelled out the shadow, the thin border between the two opposites incomprehensible to mortal eyes due to an absence of anything at all. The yellow eyes of the younger man began to flare, and the souls within the wall seeped out of their runed homes, and surged toward the battle.

Much to the elder's surprise, he was taken over by the glowing essences. While his power was enough to ward off the shadow, the souls of good people were not contested at all in reaching his body. They enveloped him fully and brought him down, silent wails only known to the empathetic older man told him that it was not by choice that they hindered him.

"My power is already immense, elder, and while you are far more powerful than I thought, you are still no match." The youth's voice dripped with confidence, perhaps arrogance, as he held the scythe high above his head, and brought it down swiftly to the elder's throat, penetrating a soul to reach it. It found an easy entrance into the other man's soft, aged flesh, piercing him through the neck and into the floor on the other side of it. "I know that this will not slay you...But I only need you held in place..."

"Pitiful...boy..." The elder's voice returned to a shaky state, the scythe in his neck sealing off his access to his light-given strength. "You know not what you do...This is precisely what has been foretold..." He struggles to lift an arm beneath the weight of the soul energy, as if he were pleading. "I must beg you...not to do this.."

The eccentric youth looked on at the old man with a sadistic grin, re-drawing the sacrificial dagger from his robe. "Your voice irritates me. I think I'll silence it for eternity." He presses the dagger lightly where the old man's heart lay beating beneath his skin, not piercing the flesh but applying a fair amount of pressure. The souls gave the dagger a wide berth, the weapon clearly holding tremendous power. "The seventy-ninth soul. The wisdom and experience of an elder...And the unforseen powers of light he holds. I cannot say this is an unwelcome surprise. It will give me dominion over all facets of the magical world." With that, he plunged the shadowy dagger into the man's chest, piercing the heart cleanly and coming out without a drop of blood on the other side.

The fragile old body of the once-proud elder sagged without warning, showing his death without question. The youth smirked, then let himself begin to cackle maniacally as the souls absorbed themselves into the dagger all at once, all seventy-nine of them filling the blade. "Yes...I can feel the power surging into the blade. It grows with each passing instant, feeding off the energy of each soul that enters..." He pulls the robe aside, revealing his own bare chest.

"Now, I shall fuse my own soul into its blade. I'll become the very essence of power! I'll rule everything in existence! I will be a God among men..." His voice trailed off as he recalled the elder's words...

'With the eightieth soul, an evil greater than any nightmare would be born...'

"Nonsense. I will not die by my own precious shadows, nor will my soul be taken...I am not so foolish as to think that my beloved power would betray me." Without further hesitation, he thrust the dagger into his own heart, and as he expected, felt no pain at all. "Foolish old man..."

Good souls could easily penetrate the elder's light barrier, in the same way that pure shadow could pass the youth's barrier. In a single agonizing second, the naive man felt his soul ripped without warning from his very body, left standing lifeless for a moment with a dagger in his heart.

Suddenly, all was black. The outside world never could explain the brief phenomenon, but for nearly five minutes, no light could be seen anywhere. It was thought that everyone had suddenly gone blind...And they were correct in thinking that. They were blind to what had happened, blind to what had been created deep within the dirt beneath their precious world. Blind to the power that now sought to destroy all life; Blind to the Shade that now lived and shared their precious existence.

But the Shade itself saw everything. It took shape, the same as the ball of souls that previously held all of his power, though much larger and with its own will power. It floated ominously before the youth who aided in its creation, the youth whose eyes were now blank white orbs not unlike the elder's. A slit appeared on the ball of darkness, which opened slowly to reveal a large eye of the same yellowish coloring the youth once had.

"Power leads to nothing aside from despair...Yes, despair is all power can cause. Despair is a dark thing for humans...What better to feed off of than their sorrow?" His voice echoed throughout the empty chamber, the youth's body frozen in place, empty hand near his heart where the dagger once was. "Humans and their lust for power. All the knowledge I have is from them, and I thank them for giving me a wise beginning. I don't need to learn from my mistakes...I've already learned from eighty others."

He observed the frozen, terrified face of the once-arrogant youth, and chuckled with pure darkness. "I will need a wielder once more, to obtain my true power...One with traits utilizing all of my knowledge." His eye closed once more, reaching out to find an ideal host. His eye shot open as he found a perfect candidate. "Yes...The boy...It will be a long process, but I think I can use him..." With that, Shade liquified, leaving the massive chamber forever, headed toward a peaceful village and its unique demonic family.

(End Line)

Thus Shade is born, and begins his attack on Vescreth's family, all a part of his master plan to gain power once more. This ties in to the whole concept of forming into a sword and maintaining all of his power, because according to my whacked out and irrelevant origin story, he started as a dagger of some kind. I might write more some time, most likely relating to this story. Go ahead and hate me for being stupid this time, but meh.


End file.
